The Magic Of Mortals
by raenbc
Summary: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. "Just when I see someone in a whole new light, they put me in the dark..."
1. Boiling Point And Breaking Down

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE. I was trying to be secretive with this chapter, things will start to make more sense. Tell me what you think of it so far.**

10:33 PM

8/23/09

The Magic Of Mortals

The sun had set in New York City. It had set hours ago. Enough hours had gone by to make it so that the sun would rise soon again in the morning. Light green eyes focused on a digital clock in the dark. The dark that would be gone soon. The girl staring with those light green eyes couldn't make out the time. Her vision was too blurry.

The clock was one of the only things in the room she could stare at. It was one of the only things unpacked in her new house. Somehow, it comforted the girl. She couldn't sleep but didn't mind, most of the time. Every few minutes, she would worry. She had a feeling like something was happening, something she could only describe as sad.

As this girl looked at her clock in the disappearing darkness, she swore she could almost here screaming in the distance…

"I SHOULD HAVE LEFT A LONG TIME AGO! I don't know why I waste my time here." A woman's angry scream had turned into an annoyed whisper when a chill went down her spine. She had the front door open, as if she was going to walk out right then.

Her husband wondered two things seeing her face: Where could she go with just the clothes on her back? Also, how was it possible she even had a spine? He tried to talk her out of leaving, knowing that was a stupid idea. She had nowhere to go, even though she had almost walked out on him countless times before.

"I agree with you, oddly enough, but I don't understand what I did wrong this time. Whatever it was, could you please bring down the volume? Our daughter's trying to sleep."

"Don't talk to me like that!" His wife snapped. "Like what?" He asked defensively, whispering. "Like I'm an idiot! There are only two idiots in this house." She mumbled. He overheard her. He forced a laugh in reply. "Yeah? Who are they?"

She glared at him. "You, and your daughter." She said bluntly. This made him angry. "My daughter is very smart, but her mother's acting very stupid. Again." She scoffed. "Your daughter won't learn when to grow up. She won't listen to us, and you call _me _stupid." The man took a deep breath in anger.

"Maybe she would listen to us more if we did something other than scream." "I WASN'T SCREAMING!" Came the reply. Typical.

"You are now." He said. "Maybe it's because I'm so ashamed of my daughter." The woman replied in a shaky tone. "What reason do you have to be ashamed of her?!" That question only made her scream louder than before. "SHE'S TRYING TO LIVE SOME FAIRY TALE!" "HER LIFE'S A _NIGHTMARE_, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?!"

She got up in his face to try and make her point. He backed up as she spoke. "I _expect _her to be someone I can be proud of. ALL SHE'S _EVER_ BEEN IS A DISAPPOINTMENT!"

The man didn't know what he could say in defense. His wife had never said anything that cruel. "I'm going back to bed." He announced. As he walked away, he could hear his wife mumble these words. "You're just like her. Never standing up for anyone…"

Up on the second floor, the room at the end of the hall had the door shut tight. The lights were off and all was silent.

Except for the sound of faint crying.


	2. A Chase And A Choice

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**. **Tell me what you'll think, I'll update on this story and my other one soon!**

The mood from early morning carried over. Even without knowing what had gone on, an entire family could feel the vibe, and it wasn't a good one. "I don't feel like working today." Alex Russo said in a lazy tone, tapping her nails on the table she was sitting at.

He two brothers silently agreed with that, she could tell by the was they were walking. The Sub Station was nearly empty, the morning rush was over. Without talking, Max and Justin bused the empty tables. They took all the dishes to the kitchen, where their parents were talking.

"What's got you guys so down today?" Theresa asked, seeing her children's faces. "Yeah. Are you guys okay?" Jerry added. Alex shrugged wordlessly, opening the freezer door. She stepped inside the lair to go get her magic journal, things would be a lot better in a world of her own. She needed to relax.

Jerry and Theresa exchanged worried glances while Max peered out the kitchen window, an absent look on his face. No one questioned that, it was normal. Justin stood next to him, sorting wizard mail. "This one's for you, Max." He said, holding out an envelope.

Max didn't take it. He seemed more distracted than usually. What he did next was even more strange. Without explanation, he ran full speed for the front door. "Max!" Theresa yelled after him, but he was already out the door. Justin rolled his eyes and went after him.

"Why does he have to pick _today _to be _extremely_ weird…" Justin mumbled to himself. Catching up to his brother was hard. "Slow down! Wait up!" He said, making random people on the street laugh. He ignored that, picking up speed.

Soon enough, he was right behind Max. "What… is your problem?" He asked, clearly out of breath. Max laughed loudly. "If you can't keep up with your _little brother_, then you're the one who's got a problem." Instead of arguing, Justin asked another question.

"Fine… make fun of me all you want. Why are you running?" He was breaking a sweat, but his brother was fine, running on pure adrenaline. "I have to catch her!"

Although he couldn't direct it at his brother from behind, Justin gave Max a weird look. "Her _who_?" "I have no idea!" Justin stopped running, realizing something. How random his brother was being didn't matter at the moment. "Wait a second. This is Harper's block." He didn't know they had been running long enough to reach it.

Max wasn't listening. He hadn't stopped running. Aggravated, Justin called after him a few times, before giving up. He turned to see that he was right in front of Harper's house. He hadn't been there in years. Instantly, an eerie feeling came over him.

The house was quiet, but he didn't like that. He was standing on an empty street listening to silence, and he was all alone. He looked the house over. It made him shudder. It looked like any ordinary home, but he knew that it wasn't. If it was, Harper wouldn't have to laugh to hide the pain. Then again, she didn't know he'd heard her say that.

Her life was hard, that was no secret. Everyone's was at some point. He tried to calm himself down, but he couldn't help feeling sad standing where he was… because he did nothing about it. His blue eyes scanned the windows, until he spotted something he thought he'd never see.

Harper paced back and forth in her nearly empty room, passing a Tears Of Blood poster each time. He never knew she was a fan of his favorite band. But that wasn't the shocking part. He watched as she cleared out all her drawers, letting the clothes fall in piles. Frustrated, like she didn't want to see the fashion she created anymore, she began to tear it all apart.

Her mother came in to see what was going on at that point. Justin found it horrifying that she smiled at what she saw. As far as he was concerned, Harper was close to having a mental breakdown, and her mother was close to dying of laughter. He couldn't just stand around and watch anymore.

He came through the unlocked door. There was no one to stop him, Harper's dad had left the house so he could have some peace and quiet. Justin ran up the stairs as quietly as humanly possible, listening to every word he heard on the way up.

"Well, I see you're finally learning." "It's called conforming, actually." Harper replied, trying to ignore the teasing, torturous tone her mother used. "It's called smart. You don't want to be singled out." "No, that would be _horrible_." She said sarcastically. "Shut up!" Dead silence from Harper. "You know I'm right. Don't try to argue with me, little girl. You're not gonna win. You never win anything."

The door swung open again, hitting a wall from the force used. Harper didn't mind the dent it made, even if her eyes were too glazed over with tears to see why it happened.

"_Justin_?" For Harper's mom, he was the last person she'd expect to come bursting through the door. He said nothing to her, just stepped into the room. By then Harper's vision had cleared up. Tears were streaming down her face, and she didn't have the strength to wipe them away. Justin was standing right in front of her.

"Pretend she's not here right now." He whispered. _I wish I could_. Even the voice in Harper's head sounded sad. Justin told he what he was thinking. "This has to be fate, me being here right now. Especially since I wasn't even supposed to be here. I honestly have no idea what's going on with anybody right now, really."

Harper's mother was giving Justin dirty looks behind his back. "You're not helping her." She said bluntly. "I could be." He said, not looking at either of them. "If you ever need a place that feels like home, you know where to go. I'm not gonna force you, just think about it."

Justin didn't know what else to do, so he left without another word. Walking out the door to go back to the Sub Station, he knew Harper's mom was right. He wasn't helping her, and he had no idea how he could. It made him feel like a failure. He hung his head in shame walking away from a house that a one-sided fight would be heard coming from soon enough.

The chase Max was part of ended at Central Park. The girl that started it got tired and sat down on a bench. She seemed like she was about to hyperventilate, and then Max saw why when she pulled out an inhaler. "That was _not _a good idea." She thought out loud.

"Yeah." Max agreed. "All that running is bad for the both of us." The girl giggled, looking up at him with her light green eyes. "Actually, what I meant was… I'm lost." She admitted. Max figured she must have just moved to the city. His expression changed, to mirror the sad one on hers. He had to fix that. "Where do you live?"

Her answer was simple. "Waverly Place."


	3. One Of These Days

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE. **

"Did you just say my street name or did all that running make me hallucinate?" "You heard right." The girl told Max, getting up from the bench. "Alright then, let's go." He said, walking back the way he'd came. She followed, smiling.

"By the way," He turned his head to look at her when she spoke. "Why exactly were you following me? Max sighed. "I just wanted to… compliment you." He told her honestly, not sure she'd believe him. "Oh, wow." She wasn't expecting that. "About what?"

"Your hair." The girl laughed. "What's so special about it?" "Oh, c'mon!" He said, as if it was obvious. "It's platinum blonde!" She shrugged. "Thanks?" "You're very welcome."

He couldn't figure out why she thought he was so funny, but she laughed at that too. They walked a little more before he remembered that he forgot to ask something pretty important. "So, what's your name?"

"Julia." She said. It almost made _him_ laugh. What a coincidence. The same name as his sister's character in _Charmed and Dangerous_. Weird. He shrugged it off. "Cool, I'm Max." He told her. More laughter. "You know what that means, right?"

"What?" He asked, totally lost. "Your name." He still had no idea what she was talking about. "I guess I don't, because I'm _really_ confused." "Maybe you'll figure it out." She told him. She started walking ahead, and he followed without question, even though he was the one who was supposed to be leading her home.

"By the way, the reason I was running, in case you were wondering… I was trying to take in all the sights, but I don't have a lot of time." Julia explained. "Why not?" This made her laugh in a different way, like she was annoyed. All she said was: "My mom worries."

He knew what it was like to have a mother that sometimes babied him, but he still couldn't really call it worrying, and he didn't know why. To say that he knew the feeling, he thought he'd be lying. Instead, he just nodded. "I'm glad to be back where I was born though. I never really got a good look at this place." Julia wondered if she ever really could.

"You move around a lot?" Max asked, feeling disappointed. Then again, this was probably the last time he was going to see her. "Not anymore, hopefully. I have moved a few times, though." She answered with a sigh. "How many is a few?"

"Six." Julia said, obviously not wanting to talk about it anymore. Max figured he should change the subject.

"What's with the pink and purple?" He asked, looking at her clothes. Her shirt was all different shades of those colors, forming a heart on the back. Even though she had regular blue jeans on, she added glitter to the pockets. Her nails were painted highlighter pink, not bright to the point where it was hard to look at, but bright enough.

Her sneakers had different shoelaces in them, one of each color. Bracelets covered half her left arm, to be different. They jingled while she walked. She had pink and purple ribbon braided around a strand of hair on the side of her face. Last of all, she wore pink lipstick, but not eye shadow, which she hated.

"They're my favorite colors." She replied. "What's with the tree?" She asked, pointing to his shirt. "It makes me look cool." He said. "True." She agreed. He smiled, not expecting that. He was only joking. Maybe she was too.

Before they knew it, they were in front of the Sub Station. "Are you hungry?" Max asked Julia. "I could probably get you something on the house… but no guarantees, just because my dad owns this place and I work here might not mean anything."

Julia shrugged happily. It didn't really matter to her. Max went for the door and she would've been right behind him if a letter hadn't fallen out of her pocket. She picked up frantically, quick enough to have the door slam right in her face afterward. If Max had held the door open for her, that wouldn't have happened.

He realized that, of course, after it happened. His family could see the expression on in his face. He was extremely sorry and tried to explain that when Julia came in.

She had a sly smile on her face and said: "That's okay… I'll get you back one of these days."

**I came up with the idea for a character like Julia shortly after "Alex's Choice" premiered. That was always her name, even before I knew about the changes made to Alex's name (from Julia to Brooke to Alex) and waaaay before "Future Harper" premiered. Just in case you were wondering. I'll probably start the sequel to my other story before updating this. I'll try to work on it later today.**


	4. Crying Over Spilled Milk

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE.**

A few weeks passed by quickly, but the absence of the Russo family during that time didn't go unnoticed. Each time either Harper or Julia passed by the Sub Station, not only did they miss seeing the family, but they also got hungry. One time, they saw each other in passing. The conversation was very short. "I like your style!" From Julia. "Thanks." Harper whispered, being on her way. Julia felt sad as she left, to match the tone in Harper's voice. She wanted to make sure she was okay, but she had to get home.

Harper didn't mean to sound upset, knowing someone like Julia would be worried by that. Her style, which Julia had complimented so nicely, was still her own. Even toned down, without any real theme other than "unique" and "different." Being those two things was getting harder every day. Harper's mother had taken upon the "unfortunate responsibility" of refilling her closet with clothes she found more appropriate. Harper couldn't argue. She saw trying to agree with her mother on anything as a lost cause, so she stayed quiet and out of her way.

Even so, she felt sorry for her. Harper walked the streets of the city each day the Russo's were gone, wishing she could make things better. Somehow, no matter what she said, she was wrong. She wished her family was closer, so that these arguments didn't happen so often, or didn't mean so much. Ironically, every time Harper thought on the subject, she walked further away from her house. There was a time when she doubted she would ever find her way back.

"Where've you been lately?" Julia finally got the chance to ask, on the day the Russo's got back from vacation. Max was the only one who had finished unpacking, so he was sitting at the counter in the Sub Station, looking out the window as usual. He'd been through something, she could tell just by looking at him.

"We were in the Caribbean." Max told her, not mentioning he wasn't expecting to see her again. He almost said nothing about it, but he just had to ask her something, thinking of the right way to phrase it while she talked. "Vacation in paradise, huh? I bet it was beautiful there."

"It was. We had a great time." There it was again. The tone in his voice told her that the whole family had an adventure, and she wanted to know about it. For awhile, he stayed quiet, letting her grow impatient. She wasn't expecting _him _to ask _her_ a question. "Did you come looking for us while we were gone?" He sounded like he would be surprised if she said yes.

"Every day." Julia replied. _Unbelievable_. He thought, absolutely amazed by that. That's not what he said though. "Why?" Julia laughed at how clueless he was about it, not in a mean way though. She was just shocked to find out he didn't know. "Two reasons: I wanted to welcome you guys back, and I found some expired milk in my fridge.

Max raised an eyebrow. He had no idea why she was telling him about it. "It fell off the top shelf and wound up behind the mayonnaise and pickles and stuff." He thought she would just leave it at that.

He gave her an even more confused look when she pulled out the carton from behind her back. _How weird does she think I am_? Max had strange taste in food, but he thought expired milk was just plain gross.

"What's the point of this?" He asked her. That sly smile made a comeback. Julia walked up to him, opened up the carton, and poured all of its contents on top of his head.

Alex, who was just coming down the stairs, cracked up at the sight. "What did he do?" She asked, talking to Julia but looking at her brother. He would have had his mouth open in shock, but than he'd taste the milk that was dripping all over him.

"Welcome back, Alex." Julia said, reminding her of what happened. "Oh, he just _forgot _to hold the door open for me." Looking around, Max found a towel and used it to wipe off his face before opening his mouth. "I said I was sorry!" "And I said I would get you back." Julia replied. Justin came down then. "They're kind of like us." He told Alex. They both laughed about that. "Welcome back, Justin." Julia said.

Suddenly, Max got up and started chasing Julia around the room. At first she screamed, but then she giggled, remembering how hard it was for him to catch up with her. "Except we wouldn't do _that_." Alex said, while she and her older brother watched.

"Instead of using this time to chase me _again_, what I really think you should be doing is going to wash the disgusting milk out of your h— AAH!" Max had gotten significantly close and she had nowhere to run, cornered at the front door. Thinking quickly, she threw the empty milk carton at him. Alex and Justin were hysterical.

The carton hit him directly in the face, but only hurt enough to make him flinch. Julia bolted for the kitchen while he recovered. That was an unexpected twist. Max was a little too shocked to move at the moment, even though he had turned around.

"You don't think she'd try to hide in the _freezer_, do you?" Alex whispered. Justin made a face. "What does it matter? She's mortal, if _she _opens the door, all she'll _see_ is a freezer."

Max's eyes bulged. "I left the door open!" He yelled, running faster than he ever had in his life. "What?!" Alex yelled, throwing her hands up in anger. Justin looked appalled. "How could you—"

Knowing he was following her, Julia had turned to face Max. She only heard what he said, and was about to turn to see what the big deal was. "Wait!" Max pleaded. She looked at him, deeply confused. "What's going on?" "Uhh…" There was nothing he could say. If he just ran to close the door, she would turn around and see the lair, because even if she didn't follow with her feet, she followed with her eyes. She almost couldn't help it.

Max didn't think before he acted. Hopeless for a distraction, he pushed Julia with just enough force to knock her over. Running to close the door, he heard her groan in pain as she hit the ground, and something skid across the floor. By this point, Jerry and Theresa were coming downstairs.

Once the door was closed, Max turned back to where Julia was, and ran to help her up. "What was that for?" She asked sadly, getting up on her own. Max stammered, trying to give her an explanation. Four consecutive beeps that went off three times in a row told Julia it was time to leave, which was convenient for her, since she was on the verge of tears.

Julia ran out of the kitchen to see Justin, Alex, Theresa and Jerry standing in front of her. She hardly knew what to say, but she felt there was something to. "Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Russo, please tell your son I said I'm sorry!"

Max didn't need to hear that from anyone else. He didn't need an apology. Not after what he did. The slam the front door made told him what he already knew. He hurt more than just her feelings, and she was leaving.

"What happened here?" Jerry asked, looking at all three of his children, but mostly Max. "I was an idiot, like always." His parents looked more angry at him for saying that than anything else. "I don't wanna talk about it." He mumbled, disappearing upstairs.

Theresa and Jerry debated whether or not they should follow him, silently. They decided not to, they'd discuss the situation later. "It's bad that he pushed her down, but what she did wasn't so nice either." Justin said to Alex, who shrugged. "Maybe she's had a lot of doors slammed in her face, but I still don't understand why she had to take it on him."

"Maybe she's thinking the same thing right now."

**I'll update both stories soon, tell me what you think! For those who saw the movie, how did you like it?**


	5. Ding Dong Don't Ditch

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE. Finally, I'm able to upload something. Sorry it took awhile.**

The sun was going down soon. Harper sat quietly in her bedroom. Besides her grandmother, she was the only one home. Her parents were at marriage counseling, which she unintentionally laughed, every time they announced they were leaving. Those words were the only ones her parents could shout in unison, without fighting. The idea of marriage counseling, Harper thought, was the stupidest thing she ever heard.

While she tried not to think about that, Harper got out a piece of paper and a pen. She was doing something she hoped she'd never have to do: writing a letter to explain why she was leaving home. Explaining became difficult when all she could think about were reasons she didn't want to write. For instance, how her mother never said Goodnight to her anymore. To Harper, that was worse than forgetting her birthday.

As Harper went on writing, her mother's hurtful words echoed in her head. For some reason, the words that had the most impact kept coming back. Words that came in response to her father asking why she wasn't grown up enough for her mother.

Her mother had said the words along time ago, long enough. Though Harper tried to repress them, the hurt lasted enough to make her act like she didn't care.

_For one thing, she's had a crush on the same guy for years and somehow she cannot grasp the message that no part of him will ever want her. With how desperate she acts, I don't blame him. Justin doesn't know her, he doesn't understand her… and he will __**never **__love her!_

Seeing tears fall on her paper, Harper realized that even if she put on an act for everyone else, she was always going to be the one stuck with the truth. She read her letter over quickly, it made no sense, scattered like the thoughts she tried to keep out of her head.

She scribbled over the entire page, crumpled it up, and found another. Her revised goodbye was short and to the point. To say the least, she found it said that there was nothing sweet about it.

_If you consider it, please don't come looking for me. I have to find myself first._

Tears didn't hit her new page, she held them in like countless times before. Leaving the note on her desk, she took her only suitcase in her hand and walked out her bedroom door, not looking back. She walked down the steps, avoiding the ones that creaked. When she reached the front door, she put out her hand to turn the door knob. Suddenly, a voice called to her from the top of the stairs. It was low and calm. But unexpected enough to hit her like a gunshot.

Harper turned around slowly to see her Nana Franny standing on the landing. She came down without word. Breathless from being startled so much, Harper allowed her grandma to pull her into an unexpected hug. She stiffened, confused, and kept her arms at her sides. How could someone who was so fragile make Harper feel like she was being crushed in their embrace?

Franny let go, placing her hand under Harper's chin and then sliding it away, silently telling her that she was free to go. Harper was leaving, that was final, but she felt far from free.

She ha no idea how she managed to hail a taxi with the weak, sorry way she waved her hand. The lump in her throat was too big for her to call out.

When the taxi stopped, Harper walked the short distance she had to in a zombie-like fashion. She almost felt like the living dead. She pulled the door open, letting it slam as it went back, not out like all the other cabs she had taken before to get where she was going.

She ignored how difficult it was to lift up her suitcase, and got in. She made it look like it was easy to do, as if she packed light. Not that that would matter to the cabbie. "So, where are we headed here?" He asked. This time, saying 'we' made sense. Harper hadn't been in many 'we' situations, that was really just another way people talked about her, and her only.

"Waverly Place." She whispered, not meaning to. Her voice was barely audible. "You got it." Harper gasped silently as lights flashed above her head, and bells whistled. Somehow, she couldn't help but crack a smile.

When the doorbell rang at the Russo house, Max couldn't figure out why he was so excited to answer the door. He reached the bottom of the stairs before he even knew his feet were in motion. He was even a little short of breath, but shrugged it off an opened the door.

Again, his body had moved faster than his mind. Either that, or his mind was playing tricks on him, because there wasn't anybody there. He looked behind him, just to make sure someone hadn't snuck in while he was standing at the door, and he didn't even notice. That hadn't happened.

Max turned back, this time looking at the ground. He froze. He thought that what he was looking at was an illusion, too good—and too strange—to be true.

Roses. Dozens of roses, in the doorway. Red, with no thorns, cut neatly, with droplets of water on them, lying on the floor. Except for one. One rose was white, and it had something attached to it. Max picked it up slowly.

He could see that the piece of paper tied to the white rose by a very familiar-looking ribbon, had a message written on it. He read, in his head that ached from confusion, with a look on his face to prove that.

_I read somewhere that most guys would appreciate it if you sent them flowers. I hope you're one of them._

—J.K.W.

"Amazing." He said out loud, smiling to himself. He held the rose proudly, still surprised it was his. Then a thought crossed his mind, and he went with it. "When you play ding-dong ditch on somebody, you're supposed to run away. You know that, right?"

Seconds later, Julia was in front of him, having walked into view, almost dragging her feet. She wasn't smiling, still sad. "I know." She told him. She didn't elaborate on that, to his disappointment.

He had to laugh at something. "How many roses are there?" He asked her. "Forty-eight." Julia replied, sure of that. "It's all I could carry." She told him, like she felt that wasn't enough. Max's eyes were wide. "How can you afford that?!" He blurted, his mouth was now going faster than his mind. "I stole them." Julia said quickly. Max dropped the rose he was holding. He didn't want to get caught with stolen property. He stuttered, trying to find the right words to scold her with. She just laughed.

"My mom's a florist!" She said finally, making Max stutter more. "Julia!" That was all he could come up with after learning that.

"Max!" She replied in the same tone, feeling ashamed that he would actually believe she would steal. Brushing it off, she picked up the white rose and handed it back to him, with a smile on her face.

Max stood where he was, holding his rose, wondering how she could possibly be happy after what he did to her, while she went to pick up all the red roses, not minding that he didn't help at all. She closed the door by backing into it with her foot, since her hands were full. "Where do I put these?"

Max shrugged. "I don't think we have a big enough vase anywhere." Julia chuckled at that. Of course, Max wasn't expecting it. He was still trying to figure out a way to apologize. He kept coming to the same solution.

"Follow me." He told Julia, sounding serious. Swallowing hard and forgetting the consequences, he opened up the basement door and went downstairs. Julia came right behind him, without questioning it.

The doorbell rang again. This time, Alex heard it. "Justin, can you get that?!" She yelled to him. She was in the middle of an art project, and was too lazy to answer the door herself. He rolled his eyes, even though he had planned on going downstairs anyway, and did so. Even though he felt like he should be relieved, Justin's heart sank when he came to the door. He opened the door, choking back tears.

"Hi, Harper. Welcome home…"

**I'll update soon, I'm working on a chapter for my other one right now. Tell me what you think, thanks!**


	6. Questions For Answers

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

Max was standing behind Julia, with his hands over her eyes. It was surprising to him that she allowed him to do that, but virtually everything she did was unexpected. "Are you ready?" He asked her.

"Yes, Max. Please just stop stalling and let me see whatever it is you want me to see already." She said that sentence quickly, taking a deep breath afterward.

Max hesitated. "Okay, but don't tell anybody." He begged. "I'm not gonna." Julia promised, for the hundredth time. "And _please _don't call the cops."

Julia laughed. It still wasn't expected, and it lasted longer than most times. Her cheeks were full of air and turning red, and Max could feel them shaking because of how high her cheek bones were.

"I'm serious." He told her, making the giggling stop abruptly. Julia said nothing, standing still. Max gulped, paused to possibly reconsider what he was about to do, then slowly took his hands away from her eyes.

She opened them, dazzled by what she saw. Everything was elegant and beautiful, just the look of the lair had her astonished. Incredible. That's the first word that came to her mind.

She could almost feel the softness of the furniture from where she stood, but that wasn't even close to the best part for her. She was fascinated by the decorations all around the room and on the walls, knowing every one of them had a story behind it. Julia was really interested in the books. She wanted to read every single one of them, knowing they would be far more interesting than any of the ones she owned.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to say to you here?" Max asked, since she hadn't said anything at all, but didn't look scared, shocked, or confused. She looked, somehow, comfortable. Like she was at peace.

Julia put her hands on her hips and pondered Max's statement. "Well," She began, "I can only guess that if you tried so hard to keep me out of this room… than it has to be more than just cool-looking. It's almost… otherworldly."

After being tired of fighting temptation, Julia went to go sit on the couch. Max followed, and sat next to her. She had no problem with it. Go figure. He started wondering what would make her go away, not that he wanted that to happen. He had a feeling that once he said what he did next, she'd go running. For once, something Julia did wouldn't surprise him.

"It is." He confessed. Julia's face contorted a bit. Max mentally breathed a sigh of relief. She was confused, and even though he hadn't expected that either, at least it was normal. "How, exactly?" Julia asked quietly, looking directly at him.

The thought occurred to Max that, if Julia did get freaked out, he could always just rewind time. But then, he would never make a proper apology, and even if she acted like it didn't bother her, the hurt he caused would never heal.

"I'm a wizard." A bright smile came across Julia's face when he said these words. "Cool." His response to her reaction sounded more dumbfounded than her reaction ever could. "Wh-what does _that_ mean?!" Julia shrugged her shoulders. "That's… interesting." She told him. He scoffed.

"_No_. 'Interesting' is saying you can burp the backwards alphabet, this is _insane_." He said, shaking his hands near his head to demonstrate that. Her reaction is what he thought was _really_ insane. He figured he might as well keep his jaw constantly dropped around her, and guaranteed she'd find a way to break it with the things she said and did.

"You want me to call you crazy?" Julia asked. She was even more confused, but kept a low tone. Max breathed a deep sigh of aggravation. "I want you to have a real reaction here." He replied, and started listing ones that made sense to him, but most likely none to her, as he stood up. "Scream, laugh, cry, _run_… I don't know, but don't just sit there and say 'cool'."

Julia looked down, she felt like he was yelling at her. He just went on talking. "You know, maybe you should be thanking me. This is the best apology I could come up with… and it violates wizard code." He explained, stammering.

Julia got up then. "You're lying." She said bluntly. "Am not!" He argued. "There's proof all around you." "Not about being a wizard." She told him. "What else did I say?" Max asked. It was a serious question, he really didn't know what she meant. "You said that telling violates the wizard code." "It does." Max said slowly, nodding.

Julia crossed her arms. "You don't understand." She said. He raised his eyebrows. "You're right. I have _no_ _idea_ what you're talking about." He laughed a little. "Being a wizard _is_ amazing. That's why I'm so confused." She admitted. "Huh?" Max was way more confused than Julia sounded. "You don't understand." She repeated, sighing.

"We've established that!" Julia giggled happily. "What is so _funny_?" He demanded to know. "I never said anything was funny." She said, smiling in a sneaky sort of way. Max narrowed his eyes. "Wait, is this not news to you because… you're a wizard too?" That really cracked Julia up. Her face was red.

"No, I'm mortal." She said, once she had her breath back. He looked skeptical. "Then how come you know about magic?" "I don't, really." She said. "My dad does."

"Oh." Max said, finally understanding. He didn't ask her to elaborate on that, and she was glad too. "So why'd you have to put me through all that confusion?" He asked her, laughing. Julia shrugged. "You allow it." She said simply.

"Doesn't mean I like it." He told her. She nodded, thinking she should've known that. The alert went off on her phone, just as she was about to say something. Julia groaned.

"I've gotta go now. See you tomorrow, Max." She said, heading for the exit that lead to the kitchen of the Sub Station. "You will?" He asked, just as surprised as she always made him. "Guaranteed." She replied happily, waving behind her as she went.

Max stood in the lair by himself once she was gone. He threw up his hands in confusion, and let them fall. "I must be dreaming." He concluded, sitting back down on the couch. He felt decided to test something. He looked at the digital display on his watch. It read 8:05. He forced a smile, wondering how long it would take for his family to realize he wasn't with them.

* * *

_Her room's twice as big as mine_. Harper thought while she stared up at the ceiling in the dark. _But it's got that desk in there, that makes it crowded, I guess. _The couch was, for once, uncomfortable. Definitely not ready to be Harper's permanent spot. She sighed in sadness. Although it was much nicer, the Russo's house wasn't her home, and she knew it.

A sad whisper broke the silence. "Hey." Harper gulped in surprise. "Justin?" She whispered, at the same volume he used. It was him, coming down the steps, dragging his feet from being so sleepy. He yawned on the way to the fridge, in search of milk.

"I'm so tired that I can't sleep." He told her. She swallowed a harsh laugh. How many times had she had one of those nights? She'd lost count. She closed her eyes for a minute, hoping she'd fall asleep in that time. Instead, she just heard the microwave go off. She ignored it. Seconds later, she felt Justin's presence over her.

She opened her eyes slowly. He was holding a mug full of warm milk out to her. She repressed another sarcastic laugh, thinking about how something like that would never happen if she still had a crush on him. "I thought you were making that for yourself." She said.

Justin shrugged. "There was only enough left for one person, so…" He held the mug out again, emphasizing his point. Harper sat up, but that's all she did. "Take it." He insisted. "You obviously need it, this has got to be hard for you." Saying that was an understatement, the two of them knew that for a fact.

"What do you care?" She mumbled accidentally. In response, Justin put the mug in her hands. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked you to come here." He said gently. Harper nodded. "I'm sorry." "It's fine." Justin replied.

Something crossed his mind. "So, you're cranky when your tired?" He said jokingly, surprised by that. He like it, though. That surprised him even more. "I am, actually." Harper admitted, lying back down once she was done with her milk. She couldn't believe Justin was just sitting in the living room with her, having a conversation. Especially since it was one he had started.

She tried to ask him why he was being so nice to her all of a sudden, but she was already drowsy. Did he put a spell on that milk? Or did she just not know how quick warm milk put someone to sleep because she was too afraid to go downstairs at night and get some for herself?

Either way, her eyelids were heavy, and it was getting harder to listen to what Justin was saying. "Goodnight." She said, interrupting him. She was pretty sure he'd been going on about the stars, or maybe it was cars? Carnations possibly? As in Alabaster Carnation, the one-hit-wonder band he'd forgotten about? She was also pretty confused as to how she manage to say anything being so tired. The world around her disappeared just as she heard him respond with "Goodnight, Harper." In a much sweeter tone than she expected.

* * *

"Ma, why do you have to alert me when you want me home?" Julia asked as she paced the floor of her mother's room. Ruby sat on her bed, brushing her long blonde hair. "I mean do you _know _how _embarrassing _that is?" "I'm sorry, Sweetie." Ruby replied. "Well, could you stop?" Julia asked.

"I just don't see why you go to that sandwich shop every day, I can make you your lunch, you know." Julia laughed happily. "Ma, I don't go there for sandwiches." She told her. Ruby put her brush down on the nightstand. Knowing her daughter, there was only one thing she could say.

"Yeah? Who do you go there for, then?"

* * *

8:45, 9:20, 10:30, 10:45, 11:05, 11:35, 11:50, 11:51, 11:52... "That's it!" Max got up off the couch in the lair and went to walk out. For some reason, his feet took him through the exit where Julia had left. He realized that when he found himself standing in the middle of the downstairs kitchen.

A light had been left on, so he spotted something. Julia's inhaler was lying on the ground. A folded up piece of paper was near it. He picked up both items and slipped them into his pocket, somehow knowing she wouldn't need the inhaler until they saw each other next. He hope his feeling was right.

Max walked upstairs, and was even more surprised at what he found up there. His older brother was sitting on the chair in the living room, with his lowered head faced in the direction of the couch. Lost in his trance, he didn't even hear Max come in. No surprise there.

"What are you still doing up?" Justin asked sleepily, once he finally noticed who was standing there. Max laughed quietly. "I'll tell you what I'm not doing," He said, as he turned to the steps so he could walk to his room.

"I'm not watching Harper sleep…"

**I'll update soon! What did you think?**


	7. Hidden In Plain Sight

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

School was drastically different for the Russo's with Julia around. Max found out quickly that she was basically a social butterfly, she almost never stopped talking and seemed to make fast friends with everyone.

"You're almost like a celebrity here. You're not gonna let it go to your head, are you?" Max asked as they were walking to his locker at the end of the day. "I don't think that's possible." Julia replied. "All they really talk about is my hair." She said, trying not to roll her eyes.

"I told you it was cool." He said, making sure he had everything he needed before slamming his lock shut. She found nothing wrong with that, shrugging at what he told her. It was then that Max realized something. "Do you wear pink and purple every _day_?".

She had on a pink blouse that tied with a bow at the waist and a purple skirt that went down to her knees. She wore tights that had little letter Js all over them, in different sizes and shades of pink and purple, but the main color of the tights was black. On her feet were chunky pink boots with purple laces in them. On one of the laces was a tiny gold butterfly charm. Her hair was in pigtails, tied back with the same type of ribbon Max saw when he first met her and when she gave him the roses. Her nails were mostly painted purple, but the ring finger on her left hand was light pink.

As usual, Julia answered Max's question in a way he wasn't expecting: with another question, after she laughed a little and they started walking out the door. "Does anyone else?"

She had a good point.

They took the subway home. They both had tons of homework to do, but the first thing they did was sneak into the lair. No one else had figured out that Julia knew the secret, and Max wanted it to stay that way.

Upstairs, Alex was struggling with her homework, but not telling anybody. She groaned in frustration and got up from her desk. "This is hopeless!" It was impossible to concentrate with the headache she had, and it was annoying not knowing where the headache came from. Trying to ignore how much her head ached, she decided to go back to her art project.

She picked such a random time to do so, but inspiration always came spontaneously. Pretty soon her floor was covered with newspaper, and she was hard at work in a much more peaceful state. Alex didn't exactly know what she was painting, since she couldn't stop. All she knew was that art calmed her nerves, and it was ten thousand times easier than homework. She smiled to herself as she painted, a whole world unfolding in front of her. "This is going to be amazing. Too bad no one's ever gonna see it."

While Alex was working on her masterpiece, Justin was just finishing up his homework which he had rushed through, to his own surprise. He wasn't sure why he'd done that, but he felt he'd find out soon. Something in his gut instinct had told him there was something far more interesting to do. The only problem was that he had no idea what that was.

While he thought about, Harper walked into the room, looking around. She said nothing to him as she searched for whatever it was she needed, and he watched as she walked by him several times without saying a word.

"Looking for something?" He asked her, annoyance from being ignored showing in his voice. It dawned on him that that emotion was exactly what she used to feel when it came to him at one point.

"Yeah, have you seen a book?" Harper asked casually, walking by him for the fifth time, and bending down a bit to look under the couch. "What kind of a book?" He asked, staying where he was as she walked in a circle around him, frustrated and confused.

She stopped walking and turned around to look at him when he asked that. "A square one." She said bluntly. Justin opened his mouth to laugh, but stopped when he saw something, out of the corner of his eye. By this point, Harper had walked out onto the terrace.

Quickly, Justin walked to the bookshelf and crouched down to pick up what was underneath it. Of course Harper wouldn't look for a book where there are a bunch of books, it was hidden in plain sight… but this wasn't just any book.

It was much more interesting than that. Her first initial was on the cover, in an elegant script. The cover was soft to touch, he was pretty sure she had made it. He was also pretty sure that her journal was what he was meant to find, what he had been so excited to get to, even if reading it was wrong.

That's why when he heard Harper coming back into the house, he put it behind his back, trying to act natural. He thought he was crazy for doing so, and that she would know exactly what he was doing, but he did it anyway.

"Did you find it?" He asked, mentally cursing at himself for saying something so stupid. Harper just shook her head. She had a smile on her face, which seemed strange to him. "I've got a present for you." She told him.

He backed away a little when she walked up to him, which only made the fact that he was hiding something more obvious. "What is it?" He asked, panicked since he felt like she was onto him.

It was only then that he realized she had her hands behind her back too. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands." She instructed. That was going to be a challenge. Justin tried to come up with a way for that to actually happen without Harper finding out he had her journal.

"Why don't you close your eyes too?" He asked nervously, wishing the his thoughts that followed weren't so angry, and feeling like he needed to wash his mouth out with soap even though he hadn't actually said anything. "Why, do _you_ have a present for _me_?" Harper asked, laughing at that since it didn't seem likely.

"Well maybe if you'd stop asking questions already and just close your eyes, you'd find out." He said, actually sounding calm, and like he was annoyed. He didn't know how he managed the calm part of his tone, but the annoyance wasn't faked. He wasn't annoyed with her, just with himself since he couldn't figure out what to do.

Luckily, what he said made sense to Harper. "Okay fine, but this better be good, I know you're gonna get excited over what I got you." "Yeah, we'll see about that." He replied, getting better at sounding normal. He even nodded sarcastically.

As soon as they both closed their eyes, Harper started giggling. "What?" Justin asking, having no idea why. "How am I supposed to hand this to you with my eyes closed?" "Try your best." He said simply, making himself and Harper chuckle.

"What are you, my personal motivational speaker?" She asked him. "First you take me into your house and now you're giving me pep talks." Their laughing eyes made them look like they were in REM sleep standing up. Remembering that he had a chance to get rid of Harper's journal, Justin chucked it behind him as fast as he could.

"What was that?!" Harper asked when she heard it hit the door. "Up-up-up, don't open your eyes." He told her. "Stop cheating." Harper laughed. "I wasn't going to." "Oh, don't lie. I know you're trying to peek." "The only way you could see that is if _your_ eyes were open, Justin." "So you admit it!" "Admit _what_?" She asked.

He didn't answer, opening his eyes and putting her journal back where he found it. "Are your eyes open?" She asked him, suspicious, with her hands on her hips. "No." He lied. "Prove it." As she said these words, Justin tripped over the couch. He wasn't sure if the most embarrassing part about doing that was that his eyes _were_ open, the high-pitched scream that came from him when it happened, or the fact that the trip made him crash into Harper and have them both end up on the floor.

She groaned in pain. "Okay. Yeah… that proves it." She said, trying to get up. She couldn't because Justin was on top of her, and he couldn't get up because he was laughing so hard. Neither of them were really hurt, so she had to laugh too, even though she didn't know his reason.

"What?" She asked under happy laughter. "I'm such a dork." He said, still laughing too. Harper had to open her eyes at that point. He was looking right at her, still sorry about everything. "Did you just realize that now?" She asked him, smiling.

"What do you mean?" He said, quietly and calmly. It took awhile for him to understand. "Wait. That's what you think of me?" It was hard for him not to sound sad when he asked that question. She knew that, because she couldn't hide that emotion, even just nodding. "You've always thought that of me?" He asked her, shocked. She nodded a second time, but smiled.

"Don't be upset." Harper told him. "I mean, how can you take that as a bad thing? I bought you glow-in-the-dark dental floss." She said, handing it to him and watching his eyes light up. He backed up a little so that they were both just sitting on the floor, facing each other. "Now you can have healthy gums in the dark too." Justin shook his head laughing, but he said "Thank you."

Harper shrugged. "That's my way of thanking _you_, actually. Well, partially anyway." She didn't elaborate on that. Justin sighed and got up. Harper got up after he did, a confused look on her face after realizing something.

"So. Where's my present?"

**This chapter is just an introduction to the next one, a lot of stuff is going to happen in that one. Is there anything you'd like to see happen? I'll update soon!**


	8. Eye Of The Beholder

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE, and even though I have some of the toys mentioned, I definitely don't own the companies that make them.**

"You're really lucky." Julia said randomly, in the middle of doing her math homework. She didn't seem to be having any problems with it, smiling while the teddy bear on the top of her pen lit up as she wrote.

"I am?" Max asked her, starting to feel that his simple pencil was just plain boring, and not even sure she was talking to him, even if they were the only two people in the room. "Yeah." She replied, already finished with the first page and turning it over to work on the other side. This bothered Max too, but what she said next was even worse.

"You've got a brother _and_ a sister, I've got nobody." Max stopped writing and turned to Julia. She stopped too, seeing the look on his face. "What?" She asked sadly, concerned for him. "You're the lucky one." He whisped. "At least with no siblings, your mom won't ever play favorites." Julia failed to see what he meant by this, and laughed superficially. "It's not like your perfect parents would ever do _that_." She mumbled, before she had time to stop herself.

Max was glad she wasn't looking at him at that point, because he didn't mean to glare at her. He decided not to be angry with her and was just about to speak his mind when his brother walked in. Perfect timing.

"Hey guys, what'cha doin'?" He asked, sounding a bit nervous and distracted. "Oh, hey. Just doing some homework." Julia replied, getting back to it. By this point, he was looking for something, and most likely not listening. He seemed to give up hope of ever finding what he actually needed, and took the item closest in reach. He was frustrated over not having time to search for something better, and mumbled to himself about that as he ran out of the room.

Three seconds later, he was back, with an angry expression on his face. It took the others some time to notice that he was standing in front of them with his arms crossed "What?" Max asked innocently.

"_What_ is she doing here?!" The kids looked at each other and then back at Justin. "Math homework." They replied at the same time, equally confused. Justin rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You told her." He stated, not needing to ask. Max chuckled, finally understanding. He couldn't figure out how he missed the point of the question the first time, but Julia did too, which surprised him.

"Oh, yeah." He answered honestly. Justin's jaw dropped. "Well, _why_?" His face was red in overwhelming disbelief. "She kind of deserved to know." Max answered, knowing he could have done with out the "kind of" part.

Justin wasn't feeling sympathetic for either of them, and he made that clear with how he spoke. "Oh why, because you pushed her over? That was your own stupid move. You don't have to blow the family's secret to try and make up for it."

"Shut up!" Julia yelled, jumping to her feet, making the binder on her lap fall on the floor. Justin and Max jumped too, surprised. "You can trust me." She said. "It's not that hard of a secret to keep. Remember who your mother is?"

Justin sighed silently. She made a good point. "Sorry." He said quietly. They both nodded in reply, before he left for the second time.

"I can't believe you just told my brother to shut up." Max admitted, once they couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. "Neither can I." Julia replied, she had surprised herself. Finishing up her last math problem, after picking the binder that was decorated with purple stars and pink glitter up off the floor, she turned to face Max. "Now, what were we talking about?"

"What happened? Did you get lost?" Harper asked, when she heard Justin reach the top of the stairs. He laughed, seeing that she still had her eyes closed. "No, but I did get yelled at."

"Yelled at?" She repeated, trying to face his direction, but he was walking around. "I'll explain after I give you your present." He told her. "Hold out your hand." Harper listened, opening her hand and waiting patiently for something to be placed in it. Justin cleared his throat. "I meant behind you." He said, since that's where he was standing.

"Oh." She replied, doing so, even though it felt uncomfortable. He placed his hand on top of hers briefly, letting what he had in his grasp fall into hers.

Harper opened her eyes and looked at her gift. She knew what it was, and she wasn't sure why Justin thought she would want it. It wasn't that she didn't like it, she just didn't see the point of it. "Isn't this one of the bells that makes you hear messages inside your head?"

"Yeah." He said, nodding. He realized how weird of a present it was, but didn't say so. "That might freak me out." She admitted. Justin laughed. "Shocking." He said sarcastically. She gave him a look. "Seriously, name one thing about magic that _doesn't _freak you out." He challenged.

"The energy." She replied bluntly. "Okay, you win." He told her calmly. His eyes sparkled a bit at that point, but neither of them actually noticed.

They both had completely forgotten to talk about the reason why Justin got yelled at. "Well, thanks." Harper said. "I guess I'll go see what Alex is up to." "Okay." He answered.

With that, she walked up the stairs and out of sight. Justin was eager to get to reading, even if he know it was extremely wrong, especially for him, but something kept him where he stood. An emotion he never knew before when it came to Harper. He didn't really know how to describe it. All he knew was that he missed her.

* * *

'Sudden' wasn't a good enough word for how Max would describe how it was when he saw Julia's skin turn even paler than it already was. She had been in the middle of a laughing fit, over what he wouldn't even call a joke, and the next second she was gasping for air. He'd hate to ever have to feel like he was breathing through a straw.

He couldn't let the feeling torture her any longer. Even in his shock, he was able to pull her inhaler out of his own pocket fairly quickly. She didn't know, being on the floor at that point, coughing too much to pull herself back up. Trying to be gentle, he put the device between her blue lips, not having to tell her to breathe when he pressed down.

After that, he didn't know what to do. She didn't move from her spot on the floor, barely able to keep her eyes open from feeling so drained. He sat next to her, afraid to say anything. Minutes went by, and they stayed how they were.

"That was scary." Max admitted. He tried to force a laugh, but he knew nothing was funny about the situation. Julia realized he was only trying to make her feel better, but she still couldn't talk. Even if it would take awhile for her to answer, a question popped into Max's head, and he couldn't resist asking, sounding sort of sad when he did. "Is this the main reason your mom worries?" He whispered.

Since he was staring straight forward, he didn't notice her awestruck expression. She couldn't believe he remembered her saying that, she didn't know he paid that much attention. Even being as tired as she was, Julia felt obligated to answer his question, and she was completely blunt about it. "Not even close." By that point, she had enough energy to get up. She did so without another word, taking her inhaler back when Max held it out to her.

Max watched in confusion as she left the lair, and followed at full speed. He reached the living room to see her looking curiously at Justin. "What'cha got there?" She asked interestedly, looking closely at his nervous eyes. Max walked up beside her and waited for an answer.

"I don't have anything." Justin replied, as innocently as possible. He said this with perfect knowledge that the others knew he was lying, keeping his hands behind his back. Julia shrugged. "Fine." Both boys expected her to try and grab the book from Justin after that, but she was serious. She walked toward the door and stood by it, as if she knew she was leaving soon.

Seconds later, the alert on her phone went off. Max mumbled about how stupid he thought it was, and Justin sat perfectly still, acting like nothing was going on, even though he felt bad for the two of them. "My mom's not even home from work yet." Julia said.

Max looked over at her. "Then why—" "What are you supposed to do, just sit in your house and wait for her?" Justin asked, not realizing Max was talking. Julia nodded, as if she didn't have a problem with that. "Isn't it boring?" Max asked her. She nodded again, slightly annoyed. "It's not like I've got anyone to keep me company."

"What about me?" He reminded her. "Ask your parents." She said simply, making Max and Justin laugh. "You're not the boss of me." Max joked. She raised her eyebrows in response. "I know. They are." While Max went to go look for his parents, Julia went to see what Alex was doing. Justin waited for her to get to the top of the stairs before he slowly pulled Harper's journal from behind his back, and began flipping through pages to find the one he was reading. Julia sighed from her place where she hid at the top of the stairs. _Yeah. _She said to herself. _Doesn't look like anything to me at all_.

"No, I told already told you, you can't look at any of my recent stuff. Besides, it's not even finished yet." "Oh, well. That's okay." Harper said to Alex, going through some of the older paintings on her desk. She picked up one she liked, studying it. "This one's nice, what is it?" Alex took the painting from Harper and turned it upside down. "That's a sock." She clarified. "I painted it because I know people always wonder how their socks get separated in the wash—" "Oh, I get it. Loneliness." Alex seemed confused. "No." She said slowly. "It's just a sock."

"Yeah, yeah. We're all just socks looking for our matches." For a second, Alex looked like she would ponder this statement, but then just burst out laughing. "Okay, that is so cheesy." Harper laughed along with her, and Julia walked in the room. "Hey." She said, surprised by who she saw in front of her.

Harper was surprised too. "Hey." The two best friends replied in unison. Julia figured she should introduce herself to Harper. "I'm Julia. She told her. "I complimented your clothes once." She said, laughing at herself, since she thought that sounded strange to say, especially with the expression she saw on Alex's face. Harper laughed warmly. "I remember. I'm Harper."

The three girls started chatting and Julia looked around the room. "Wow, you're really good." She told Alex, admiring the artwork. "Can I have a paintbrush?" She asked, looking at the blank piece of paper on the easel in front of her. "Sure, do what you want." Alex said casually, handing her one with white paint on it. She took it with a thankful smile, and began painting shapes very quickly. There was a lot of paint on the brush, so it dripped, but Julia didn't mind.

She picked up another paintbrush, this one with black paint one it, and began outlining things and drawing what Alex and Harper could only guess were finishing details. Then, she stepped back to let them see the finished product.

"Ants?" Harper asked, since that's what she saw. "Ants on fire?" Alex guessed, having no idea what the picture was supposed to mean. "I guess I need a lot more practice." Julia admitted. As she said this, she heard Max calling from downstairs. She looked between Alex and Harper. "I guess It's time for me to go." She told them. "Bye." They replied at the same time.

Julia turned to see Max standing right there in the doorway. She jumped back in surprise when she saw him, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the look on her face. "Did you paint that?" He asked her, pointing in front of him. "What gave it away?" She mumbled, implying how bad she thought it was. Max didn't notice, and went to comment on it. "That's—" "Horrible?" Julia interrupted.

"I was going to say creepy." He informed. The girls didn't understand, and were stunned by his interpretation. An awkward moment of silence went by before Julia decided it was best to leave without saying anything. So, the two of them were on their way. Alex and Harper waited in the doorway, until Max and Julia got downstairs, to talk again.

* * *

As soon as Julia opened up her bedroom door, music started blasting. "Is it too loud?" She asked Max. "I forgot that I set it up to turn on when I walk in." Max was impressed. "No, that's okay. Your CD player has a motion sensor?" She nodded. "Yeah, I made it." "_Really_?!" He asked, finding it amazing. "No." She said, laughing. "My dad did."

She left it at that and turned to face Max. "So, what do you wanna do first? I know you're probably gonna think this is weird, but I have a whole bunch of toys that I don't really even use. I was thinking of donating them to charity because it would take me _all _day to play with this stuff, I mean, between the thousand piece puzzles, the board games, the Play-Doh, the legos, my army men, all my video games, and _seriously_, what am I gonna do with walkie-talkies and all my NERF stuff?"

Max smiled. Looking around her room, he couldn't spot a single girly thing. In fact, other than being boyish, everything she had had either a mysterious or elegant quality about it. The curtain that was used for her closet door had a pattern on it that reminded him of hypnosis, and her bookshelf had a pattern painted on the wood in the shape of a dragon. She used model cars for bookends, to keep up her hundreds of books, which seemed to be very old, not that it mattered.

"You have Spider-Man bed sheets?" He asked her, chuckling in amusement. "Yeah!" She replied, as if it would be weird if she didn't. "Wow." He said, still completely amazed. "I bet you don't own a single Barbie." Julia sighed. "Actually, I have about 200; and nobody to play with." She whispered sadly.

Max shook his head. "There is no way…" Julia crossed her arms. "I didn't say that I was gonna _make you _play with them with me." Max narrowed his eyes. "But are you?" He asked. "No." He was about to breathe a sigh of relief, when Julia went on talking. "You can just go ahead and guiltlessly deprive me of one of the joys of my withering childhood, and carelessly leave me without knowing what that little _insignificant _thing would have meant to me."

In response, Max mimicked Julia's stance, crossing his arms as well, all while hiding his surprise of what she just told him. "Well, if this is insignificant, I don't see what the problem is." "_Well_, maybe it's not… but how would I know?" There was a long pause before Max could think of how to reply. "You know, maybe there is a way for this to be fun for the both of us." He told her. "And that would be?" Max took his wand out of his pocket. "Ever heard of a spell called _Murrieta Animata?" _ Julia thought for a second. "Animata." She repeated. "Sounds like 'animate'." He nodded. "Exactly."

Seconds later, the sounds of their laughter was echoing through the city, along with Julia's fast footsteps as she ran to find her dolls.

**Please review! Next chapter you'll get a look inside Harper's journal.**


	9. Trust

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

"She's coming, she's coming!" Julia whispered nervously, hearing heels click down the hallway. "Garibay Immobilitay." Instantly, the 11.5 inch women froze, transforming back into the dolls they once were. Julia raced to pick them all up, since the two of them being caught in any situation that involved playing with dolls would guarantee questioning from someone like Ruby Wyatt.

Not having time to do anything else, Julia threw the dolls in a pile on the floor of her closet and pulled the curtain over to hide the evidence. The second she did that, her bedroom door opened.

Ruby stood there with her keys in her hand and a beaming smile on her face. Julia wondered why, she hadn't seen her mother that happy in a long time. "Hey." She said, as if the kids hadn't even noticed she was standing in the doorway. "Welcome home." Julia greeted. Max just stood where he was, surprised by how different Julia's mother looked compared to her.

Sure, Ruby's hair was blonde, but a great deal darker in comparison to Julia's. Her skin was naturally on the tan side, and her lipstick was true red. Her eyes were a deep shade of brown, accented by the soft gray eye shadow she wore. Plus, she had on a simple white dress that went down to her knees. He would've never guessed that the two were related.

"So." Ruby said, taking a breath before she continued. "This is Max, huh?" "Yeah." Julia replied, trying to match her mother's tone. "Isn't he cute?" Ruby laughed warmly. "Yeah, he's _adorable_. Have fun." She told her, walking off.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Max let out a nervous laugh. "Now which one of you was being sarcastic?" Julia shook her head in pity, but went on to answer his question honestly. "Neither."

* * *

Justin flipped to the next page he was reading in Harper's journal. At first he failed to notice that it was dated for her last birthday, but reading on made that obvious.

_The smile on my face is almost too wide for my brain to register the real meaning of the words I just heard. That's because my best friend's confession didn't come as a shock. I always knew there was something to hide. The reason my smile started fading is because knowing I was right didn't make things any easier. The words no one knew I heard are still echoing in my head because even my so-call rewired brain can't handle them._

"_They __wanted to show you something." Yeah, I know __they __did. The whole time I stood in that room I was trying to figure out what I did wrong. Why can't I be trusted? I guess what's just, and fair, and righteous only counts if it goes by written rules, I don't make things any different. I can't understand why that even bothers me. Trust isn't something teens even care about, I had that conversation a long time ago. It was a nice idea back then, trust and be trusted, but it's more like a dream._

_Then again, how would I know? I don't dream. I hardly sleep. And it's not her fault, because she's a good friend, and she told me her biggest secret. And it's not his fault because at least he doesn't hate me. I hope._

_There's really only one thing I truly trust in: the fact that his feelings will never change.b It's comforting, he's the one person I can count on that way. He will always be dedicated to his family and his studies. Most likely, nothing else. I know that. Even so, I still wonder why I cant be trusted. __I still wonder why he can't trust me._

_Is it because of what I am… or what I've done?_

The journal entry stopped there. Justin was in total shock over the fact that Harper had actually heard what he said when she found out his family's secret, and disappointed that she thought that anything other than the fact that her knowing violated wizard code had anything to do with him being mad about it. Most of all, he was left speechless after reading the last line.

He slowly walked to his room, to hide the journal somewhere. He couldn't stand to read anymore. That entry was enough for one day. At least, that's what he desperately tried to convince himself. Even after making it to his room without being caught, he still had the urge to read on. nIt was the first time he realized that a stranger was living in his house. A stranger he had known for over ten years.

Trying to ignore that, Justin decided to hide the journal on the bottom part of the shelf with all his trophies on it, another place too obvious to be noticed. He made sure it couldn't even be seen where he put it, and then turned around to walk out of the room.

"Hey." Harper said as she appeared in the doorway, nearly giving him a heart attack. He hadn't even heard her footsteps. Her tone was calm but she seemed to be startled by something, and he hoped that it was anything but her seeing what he had just done. "Can you come take a look at something?" She asked quietly, walking into the hallway. He followed, and saw that Alex was waiting impatiently at her bedroom door. "Come on, Justin, I know you can walk faster than that." He did, since both girls seemed to be so anxious over what they were asking him to see.

"We're trying to figure out the meaning of this painting." Harper told him, sounding a little bit more like her usual self. "We thought, hey you're supposedly smart, maybe you can help us." Alex added, sighing in annoyance over how frustrated the mystery was making her. "Supposedly?" Justin repeated, insulted.

"If you guys start fighting, we'll never know what this means." Harper reminded them, directing a glance towards Julia's painting. "Well, that's… a little bit creepy." "That's the same thing Max said!" Alex told her brother. "What do you see?" Harper asked.

"Ants on fire." He replied, laughing." "And _that's _the same thing _I _said!" Alex told him, pointing to herself. "Julia said that that's not even close though." Harper informed him. "So? Just ask her what it's supposed to be next time she's over." Justin suggested. Then he had a thought.

"Maybe it's shadows." He whispered, amazed he hadn't noticed before. "What?" Alex asked, scared by the look in his eyes. "The… 'ants'. Maybe they're not ants at all. Maybe they're shadows." He slowly traced the shapes with his fingers. Alex and Harper suddenly wished they hadn't asked for his help. He might be right, and he didn't seem very happy about it.

* * *

"It's getting pretty late." Max said, looking at Julia where she sat across from him at her kitchen table. They were in the middle of their seventh staring contest, because she just kept winning and that irritated him. "I know." She said, yawning. "It's already dark." She looked worried after saying that. "I can't believe you have to walk home now."

Max got up from the table, raising his eyebrows in amusement. "Who said I have to _walk _home?" He looked around to make sure Ruby wasn't anywhere near and then took out his wand. "See ya." Julia smiled and waved goodbye, just before a glow of color-changing light told her he was gone, back to his house.

She sighed heavily and got out of her chair, walking away from the table, stamping her feet. She was stopped walking to her room, since her mom could hear her loud footsteps all the way down the hall. "Why so dramatic, Sweetie?"

Julia didn't know how to answer. She just sighed again. Ruby crossed her arms. "Oh," She said, trying to be sympathetic, "don't tell me you miss him already." Julia looked her mother straight in the eye. "No. I just keep wondering… how long is it gonna last?" With those words, she turned to go to her room. As the door closed, Ruby leaned back against hers, thinking about the answer to her daughter's question. Even after hours went by, she honestly didn't know what she could tell her.

* * *

The basement door inched open in the middle of the night. It would have been scary if Harper wasn't already up, and if she didn't know exactly who it was. She waited to see if he thought she was actually sleeping. "Harper?" He called from the top of the stairs. That would be a yes. She opened one eye to look at Justin, pretty sure he was smiling in the darkness. "Do you want some tea?"

"Ya know, I didn't think I'd be walking back through the living room any time soon." Harper said, laughing, as she followed slowly behind Justin to the kitchen. Everything looked so different at night. Justin had to agree with what she was saying. "Yeah, having your own room is a lot nicer, hmm?" She nodded. "_Here_, yeah."

It wasn't easy ignoring what she had just told him, but he had done that plenty of times before that made him too uncomfortable to go on talking about it. He went to go heat up water, while she looked through cabinets, out of boredom. While waiting for the water to boil, Justin noticed the time. He hoped Harper wouldn't mind that he woke her up at 11:30 at night, just for tea.

"Wow." She stated, completely out of the blue in his opinion. He turned around to see what she was looking at. A cookbook, overstuffed to the point where the pages inside looked a mess. "Does you mom even cook _half _the stuff in here anymore?" He chuckled. "I highly doubt it." Harper seemed fascinated by what she was reading, but nowhere near how Justin was sure he looked while reading her journal, and that thought nearly made him shudder.

"Maybe we should." She suggested, serious. He was amazed by that, since the words came out of her mouth as soon as the thought popped into her head. He didn't want to turn her suggestion down, because it was actually an opportunity for adventure. Justin waited for her to go on explaining her plan.

"We'll probably have to go buy _a lot _of stuff if we want to make all these recipes." Harper told him. At first, she sounded almost sad when she spoke, but he realized something. She was second-guessing herself, thinking he'd want no part of the random idea. Halfway through her sentence, hope drain from her tone. Justin knew what to do about that, feeling guilty. While she starting reading from the table of contents, he walked over to her.

She said each one with different emphasis, depending on her preference. "Avocado and mango salsa, bacon, spinach and olive salad, baked Italian tomatoes, pasta with broccoli, cheese fondue, cheesecake, chicken fajitas, cider-braised pork with cream and mushrooms… that's interesting, chocolate chip cookies, garlic scallops, herb-roasted potatoes—" "Harper, stop. You're making me hungry."

She laughed happily, closed the book, and turned to him. The laugh didn't exactly make him happy, he had made her laugh before, but he realized he had no idea what a real laugh of hers actually sounded like. He had no clue how to tell the difference. "Are we going shopping, or what?"

Justin wanted to say yes, but he had a question of his own first. "What about the tea?" Harper smiled. "There's a reason why thermoses were invented." "Good thinking." He complimented quickly, before he went to find some. Even while filling up two thermoses with an equal amount of tea, he seemed very reluctant about what he was doing. Harper went to speak her opinion on that, and he had to remind himself that while he was reluctant about his actions, she was basically afraid to speak because of what his reaction might be, and that just wasn't right.

"This is the city that never sleeps, let's start treating it that way!" She whispered. "Well, fine." He joked, taking his thermos and walking out the door as quick as he could while still walking. "Wait for me." Harper reminded him, grabbing her thermos and a list of ingredients to buy that she'd written while standing at the counter. She rushed after him, and they left all their fear, pain, and regret behind as they walked out the door, carefully closing it behind them.

They had to rush back into the house seconds later, realizing that they were still in their pajamas. Not that anyone would care, but it was much colder outside than they expected it to be. They shared a quick laugh and went to go get changed. Justin was upstairs and ready to go back down in a matter of seconds. Coming out of his door for the third time that night, he ran into the last person he was expecting to see.

"Why are you always up?" He asked Max, while they both stumbled backward a bit after bumping into each other. "A better question is: Why are you dressed?" "None of your business!" Justin whispered harshly. "I just made it my business." His brother told him. Justin rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself. "He picks now to be smart." Max just stood where he was, waiting for a real answer. "You did not _make it your business_, you're just budding into mine… and I'd really rather you not." After saying that, Justin stepped around Max, and went downstairs again. He found Harper waiting by the door.

"What took you so long?" She wondered out loud, not mad at all. At that point, Justin didn't care if he sounded annoyed. "Let's just get out of here. The sooner we do, the better."

* * *

The sub shop kitchen was a much better place for Justin and Harper to do all their cooking. They set all their ingredients out on the counter. The salad and salsa came first, they made the two different recipes at the same time. They tasted each others, instead of their own creations, and both got a thumbs up in approval. "We should add these to the menu." Justin said, writing the names and descriptions of the dishes down on a piece of paper. After that, they started on the pasta and tomatoes, which they decided would be the next night's dinner.

Justin watched the smile Harper plastered on her face with the constant thought that it was only there because she didn't even believe this was even happening. She didn't want him to know that's how she was feeling, and he tried to act like it wasn't blatantly obvious to him. No matter what, they both knew sorrow was mixing into the food they were making.

Fondue and fajitas were next on their list, and they were surprised the smell of everything hadn't woken the whole house up, since they were getting hungry just reading the recipes. The pork was the most difficult thing for them to make, since they had never cooked anything like it before, plus they kept snacking on the spices and drinking the cider. The potatoes were last before the fun part: baking. They put everything they cooked into the fridge, and then got out the flour, sugar, and so on.

They were both getting tired, so they began to slow down. Harper seemed like she was about to fall asleep, just staring blankly at her bowl of brown sugar. Justin laughed to himself as he pinched some flour in his hand and flung it directly at her face. She looked up at him, shocked. There was only one way he could explain this random action, in two simple words. "Flour fight!" She shook her head, mouth open, not knowing what to say.

But she didn't have to say anything. She just ran up behind him, reached for some flour, and threw it right in his face. They would've continued like this for hours, running around the kitchen and getting flour all over the place, if they didn't have to make chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes, which was a last minute inspiration.

By the time they were finished with everything, the kitchen smelled mostly like lemon with a hint of everything else they had made mixed in. They left the place cleaner than they found it, and stumbled back to bed with "Goodnight." being there last words before yawning, right after they placed a surprise in everyone else's room. While the whole experience had been fun, the one thing Justin couldn't stop thinking about was the countless times their hands had accidentally touched in the middle of making everything.

While Harper had shaken it off and went back to work each time, he was always left to stand still for a few seconds, wondering how she could look like she felt absolutely nothing, while he tried to figure out why it even meant anything at all to him.

**Thanks for reading, please review. I'll update soon!**

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	10. The Perfect Son

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

"Hey!" Julia said happily, coming through the door to the Russo house the next morning. Max looked up from the counter when he heard her voice, but said nothing in response, sort of shocked that she was over so early. It was getting difficult for him to be shocked by anything she did, even though it was always unexpected. "I could smell the sweets from down the street!" She told him as she came over to where he was, the skirt of her lavender dress swaying and her hot pink streaked ponytail bouncing as she went.

"I'm sorry Justin and Harper didn't think to make you a cupcake, this one's mine." He told her as stared at the dessert food, almost lovingly. When Julia saw, she put her hands on her hips, making her many bangles jingle. "Max! _That's_ you're idea of breakfast?!" She yelled, looking utterly appalled. Hearing that, he slowly put the cupcake back down on the counter, feeling sort of ashamed of himself. The second he did that, Julia snatched it up and scarfed it down so fast, she almost forgot to take off the paper.

In reaction, Max could only do one thing: stutter, trying to yell, since he couldn't believe he'd fallen for that, along with how hard she was laughing. He just stared at her, more disappointed than angry. "Why are you looking at me like that? I already ate breakfast." Max scowled. "That was my cupcake, and yes, that _was_ my idea of breakfast. Which means you just ate two breakfasts, which makes you greedy!" He laughed when he reached his conclusion, as if it was an insult to her. Julia pouted briefly, made a face like she was about to cry, but then smiled. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

It wasn't the smell of dinners and desserts that woke Alex up that morning, but the smell of bacon made her jolt up out of bed. She thought she'd smelled bacon the night before, but decided that was only a dream. Of course waking up to a find cupcake by her bedside was a bit weird, but she was too excited about the bacon to care. Before she went to get dressed, she read the note next to the cupcake:

_Dear Alex, _

_Enjoy! _

_Love, _

_Justin & Harper_ "Sweet!"

"Who's cookin' bacon?" Alex asked happily, as soon as she got downstairs. "Me!" Julia announced, using a slotted spatula to take it out of the frying pan. She put four pieces of it on a plate completely covered by a ham and cheese omelet, that she slid over to Max. She put the rest on another plate and went to clean up her cooking mess. "You think _this_ is making it up to me?" He asked her, pointing to his plate as if he was disgusted. "I used four cheeses." She argued. "So what?!" "Ooh, that looks good." Alex commented. "Wanna trade?" Max asked, seeing that she had her cupcake in her hand.

"Huh, no." She answered, with a mouth full of cupcake. Julia laughed silently, and Max went to half-heartedly eating his omelet. Alex looked around, suddenly confused. "This is _weird_, even I'm up, and no one else is?" Knowing Alex, the others had to agree. Where was everybody?

After Max finished eating, the three kids went to find out. They went downstairs to find costumers flooding the sub shop. Alex's jaw dropped in shock and she ran to find her older brother, pushing through the huge crowd to get to him.

Max and Julia stayed at the bottom of the steps, watching people pass by. "Justin? _Justin_!" He couldn't hear his sister calling over the chatter coming from all the people, along with him telling everyone: "Trust me, you guys haven't even tasted the best yet, but if you come back later—" Once he said that, everyone sterted arguing at once, asking why they had to wait and telling him he should be smarter than that.

"Well, _some _people sleep 'til noon and are way too lazy—" "To go to work on a Saturday? _Why _would I wanna do that?" Justin turned to face Alex when he heard her voice. "Oh, good. You're up, finally." Alex laughed sarcastically in reply. "Yeah, and I had a rude awakining… except for the bacon part, but _anyway_: Were's Mom, Dad, and Harper and WHAT ARE ALL THESE _PEOPLE_ DOING HERE?!"

Justin ignored her furious expression and went to answer her question, in list form. "Went out for breakfast, went for a walk _and _trying free samples." He said the last part quickly, but Alex understood. She narrowed her eyes, asking: "Do Mom and Dad know about this?" "No." He answered honestly, not even threatened by the fact that she was trying to look menacing, with her narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

Alex seemed amused by that. "Sneaky, I like it." She told him. "Uh, thanks." He replied, rolling his eyes. "Wait a second." Alex said as she realized something. "This is gonna help them, isn't it?" Justin scoffed, since he thought that should've been obvious. "Of course it is." "I take it back." She said bluntly, walking away. Justin shrugged, indifferent.

People started leaving then, knowing they'd be rushing back in the evening. After all of the costumers filed out, Alex looked at Max and Julia. "Wanna go find Harper?" She suggested. "It's better then hanging around here." Max nodded and the three headed for the door. "Maybe while we're out, Julia can buy me another _cupcake_…"

The second they left, Justin found himself running to his room. He couldn't stop his addiction he had with reading Harper's journal, it really had become like a drug for him. He didn't see a problem with it, since it couldn't be a risk to his health. Sure, reading from the journal ripped his heart out every time, but he knew it couldn't hurt him physically.

He started to doubt that when he nearly ran into his bedroom door, being so anxious to start reading again. He found the journal in the exact place he'd left it last time he'd read, at the bottom of his trophy shelf. He flipped through to the page he was up to, not even having to think about it. Instead of being dated, the entry he was about to read had a title. His heart nearly stopped when he saw what it was.

_The Perfect Son_

_I honestly don't know how I kept my concentration. How could I possibly act like I hadn't heard what I know I did? How could I smile? I lost a hero today._

_The absence of pleading eyes, that's what I can't understand. How can someone not beg to be noticed when they are basically called worthless? How can someone not cry when they are completely forgotten? Even without seeing what went on, I know that he smiled. Of all people. **Him**. Maybe I lost two heroes today, but I guess that only proves that he and I are more alike that I could've ever thought._

_She called him perfect. **She** did. The one that I look up to. Almost idolize. She never says as much as the others, but it always counts the most. So it blew my mind. How could she say something so stupid, about her own son? And how can he just sit there and smile?_

_I never thought of him as perfect. I never thought of anyone as perfect. To hear her say that just shatters the near perfect image I used to have of her. It's a mistake I know can never be forgiven, yet they both say nothing in argument. How can their mother be so wrong? I almost wish I had the guts to tell her that I thought she was, but I can't even stand up to the nice one._

_No matter how much those words secretly hurt anyone involved today, the whole experience only makes me wonder. Doesn't she know? _

_Her youngest son is not bulletproof… and she took such a cheap shot._

The journal slipped from Justin's grasp. He let it fall to the floor with the thud it mad being the only sound heard in the entire house. He brought his hands up to his eyes to keep in the tears, not wanting to have anything to explain to his parents, knowing they'd be home soon. His head was swimming, and the thoughts that overwhelmed it only made him feel like screaming. Of all those thoughts, he picked out the one that was strongest, the one that had the most questions attached to it.

He wanted Harper home.

**I'll update soon, tell me what you think!**

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	11. Blame Who You're With

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS IF WAVERLY PLACE**

"You put _ketchup _on your hot dog?" Julia asked Max, in total confusion. While the two of them walked behind Alex in search of Harper, he'd brought up the topic of food. "Yeah, what's wrong with that?" He asked. Julia looked at him as if he wasn't understanding her, slipping her hands into her back pockets. "It's weird, that's all." Whenever Julia said 'that's all', she usually meant it. At least for the negative side of things. She had a habit of not telling him a lot of the good things she thought, he knew that for a fact. He hated that too, she was supposed to be his friend.

"What's normal?" He asked. "I mean, as far as condiments go, anyway?" He didn't know that the whole time he was asking this question, she was considering elaborating on her last statement. Considering it, but having a feeling she would never actually do so. "I don't know." Julia replied honestly, kicking a rock out of her way, making sure to kick it far enough so that no one else would trip over it while they walked. "I like mustard and relish." Max turned his head in her direction. "Together?" He asked. Julia shrugged. "Why not?"

"_You call me weird_…" He mumbled. Julia stopped, and turned around so that she would be facing him. Gasping, he stumbled to a stop, surprised since she turned so suddenly. "I never said you were weird." She told him. Max blinked, and a few seconds of silence went by, then Julia giggled. "But you are." Before Max could respond, Alex called to him and Julia.

"Will you guys _keep_ _up_?" She said, walking back to them so the group wouldn't get split up. "I'm trying to find her _today_, if we keep slowing down she'll be _back_ already."

* * *

Harper was on her way back. She wasn't tired of walking, but walking didn't help her get away from her troubles the way it used to. She enjoyed her walks knowing those troubles were gone, but she had a new problem to deal with, and walking didn't help that.

Harper loved living with the Russo's. Her days were much more enjoyable, she looked forward to every day. When she said Good Morning, she actually meant it, and being where she was made her forget how difficult it used to be to even say that. She'd gotten closer with Alex, and she even talked to Max on a daily basis, feeling that she owed it to him. Jerry and Theresa treated her like another one of their children, and she'd gotten used to the happiness, as well as the embarrassment, that came along with that.

Justin was a different story. Not that he spent much time with her during the day, but how he would act when no one else was around just made her feel like he was on this constant guilt trip. She didn't know what she could tell him, because even that stupid guilt trip of his made her realize something: He was her friend, she was lucky to even have him as that.

On her way back, Harper decided to make a pit stop. Ruby's Roses Flower Shop was open for business. Harper walked in and went up to the counter. "Hi, Sweetie, how are you?" Harper was surprised Ruby called her that. Max had told her that Julia usually rolled her eyes when her mother said that. "Hi, Ms. Wyatt. I'm great, how are you?" Max had also mentioned that Ruby was divorced and that Julia talked about her dad nonstop.

"I'm doing good. So, are you here to buy a bunch of roses to impress some boy, or what?" She asked, laughing about what her daughter had done. Max had told Harper about that too. He told his whole family about it. Very proudly. She would be surprised if everyone in the city knew, so she had to laugh too.

"No, but there is _something_ I want to buy. I don't know how impressive it's gonna be."

* * *

"For a second I thought we came back to empty house." Theresa told Justin, smiling at him as he came down the stairs and into the kitchen. "What are you up to?" Jerry asked. He froze, caught off guard. "Oh, I, uh… I was just catching up on some reading." He said, hiding nervous laughter.

"Oh." Jerry replied. "What book?" Tough question. A truthful answer would more than likely get him killed. "Oh, it's… it's pretty new. You guys have probably never heard of it." "Well, what's it called?" Theresa asked, sensing that her son was hiding something. If he couldn't come up with an answer quickly, that meant he was lying.

To his parents' surprise, Justin responded without hesitation. His slightly sarcastic tone didn't do much to mask the sadness in his voice. "A China Doll's Journal: Darling Rewired." He laughed bitterly at his own explanation.

Jerry and Theresa looked a little scared by this. "What exactly does that mean, Justin?" Theresa asked, looking directly at her son's sad eyes. He didn't mean to sound the way he did when he answered, like he could feel Harper's pain. He could barely stand to look at his parents when he spoke. "It means she's beautiful, but no matter what… she's already broken."

Seeing how saddened he was, Theresa was about to give Justin a hug. Jerry's face fell, he couldn't understand why his son would keep reading something that made him so upset. He felt like he had to ask. Before either of them got a chance to do anything, the door opened.

Justin couldn't believe what he saw. It brought a smile to his face, seeing Harper standing there with a new journal in one hand, and a carnation in the other.

* * *

"What _did_ I tell you?" Alex asked as she walked in the door, seeing that Harper was already home. "She beat us here." Alex pointed between Max and Julia. "It's _your_ fault for not paying attention."

Julia almost laughed, looking at Max in surprise. "Wow, that really is how your family works, huh?" Max laughed in reply. They both had no idea that Alex was only kidding around.

Alex walked into the kitchen, where her best friend, her parents, and her brother were deep in conversation about some book. Jerry and Theresa kept questions coming like rapid fire, they were so intrigued by what Justin was telling them they didn't realize how much he was sweating, stuttering and stalling, trying to keep the answers vague. After awhile the conversation had even Alex interested, and she wasn't much of a reader.

"Race you to my room." Max said to Julia, tired of just standing where he was. She gave him a look. "_Yeah_, I'm gonna run up a spiral staircase. That's smart." He seemed insulted. "Okay, fine. We won't race." He decided. "But there's no sense in not going up there, I cleaned for you."

"Is that supposed to impress me?" She asked him as they walked towards the steps, sounding confused rather than annoyed. He paused. "Well, if you knew me before… it should." Julia shrugged. The last thing she heard before going up the stairs, was Harper expressing her opinion on the book.

"I don't think I would like this story." She said uneasily. Alex agreed. "Too much drama. And the mom sounds so mean!" Julia couldn't believe her ears. "Why can't he just live up to his name?"

She hadn't realized she was talking out loud, but figured it out once she saw how Max was looking at her. "He who? What? What are you talkin' about?"

Julia rolled her eyes, but not at him. "You're brother, he's so… unfair."

**Thanks for reading. Tell me what you think, I'll update soon!**


	12. No Fear, And No Future?

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

Hours later, Theresa was heating up the dinner that Justin and Harper made for the family to eat. The smell of the tomatoes filled the air, bringing everyone to the table. Even Julia, who felt awkward about coming too, since she hadn't been invited to stay. She was just following Max.

"Is everybody hungry?" Theresa asked, knowing the answer. He husband sure looked it, which made her laugh, and everyone else seemed like they were trying to be patient. Except for Julia. She looked confused about what she should do. She didn't feel like going home, but knew she would have to. A day she went without her phone going off could only be a dream.

"It smells great." Jerry complimented. "Yeah, and I bet it tastes delicious." Alex agreed. "Let's get to eating already, come on." She said eagerly, sitting down. "Hold on a second." Jerry said. "What could be more important than food?" Alex asked, a little annoyed but joking regardless.

"Does Max's shadow want to stay for dinner?" Jerry asked Julia in a teasing tone. More awkwardness. No one had ever actually asked Julia to stay for dinner before. Plus, she didn't like the answer she would have to give. "I'd love to stay, but I don't think I'll be able to."

Everyone seemed disappointed. What she said annoyed Max the most. "Why can't your mom just quit her worrying for two seconds and let you live?" Jerry and Theresa looked at each other when they heard that, amused. So did Alex and Harper, thinking he had a point. Justin laughed. It was funny because it was true.

Julia sighed seeing the group's sad faces. "I'll go call her." She told them, making them smile.

She stepped outside so she could talk in private and dialed her mother's cell. Ruby picked up on the third ring. That was strange, she always picked up on the first. "Hey, Sweetie!" She said excitedly. "Hey, Ma." Julia replied calmly. "Quick question." She hoped that sounded sweet enough, or else she _knew _she would have to go home.

"What's that?" Ruby asked. "When do I have to be home?" Julia's mother laughed when she heard this. "Why? Are you busy?" She sounded distracted when she asked this, and Julia knew there was something she was missing. Her mother didn't get distracted. That was always a bad sign.

"The Russo's kind of want me to stay for dinner." The "kind of" was added out of nervousness. "Oh! Go ahead." _Did someone cast a spell on you_? Ruby was definitely not herself, she sounded like she didn't care what Julia did. "Uh, okay." Julia replied, sort of saddened. She hesitated with her next question. "Can I asked why?"

"I've got a date! I've gotta go Sweetie, bye." Ruby replied quickly, hanging up before Julia could respond. Shocked, she walked back inside to see everyone seated at the table. Max stood up when she came over. "So, what did she say?"

Julia exhaled. "She said I can stay, but… I lost my appetite."

She walked to the couch and sat down in a slump, sighing silently. Feeling sorry, Alex looked at her younger brother. "Do something!" She whispered harshly. No one had ever seen Julia look so upset before, not even when Max had pushed her over. Like most times when it came to Julia, Max didn't know what he could do. "Uhh…" He stammered. "She's your friend." Justin argued, still whispering, not seeing why Max was so confused. "She's your friend too." He pointed out. Hearing that, Justin looked to Harper to back him up. "He has a point." She said honestly. Justin looked sort of angry, so she went to rephrase herself. "I mean… well, he _does_ have a point."

The Russo kids were ready to look to their parents for advice, but Max decided it really was best for him to talk to Julia, so he went to the couch and sat down next to her.

"Hey." He said, dragging out his greeting that he thought wasn't even necessary, trying to think of what to say. "Hey." Julia echoed, in a voice with half the volume and none of the enthusiasm. "Here's the deal," Max said, talking with his hands, "You eat, then we talk." She looked up at him, trying to smile. "Okay." She agreed, following to the table once again.

This time, Julia made Alex stutter, and Justin laugh. "You sound like Dad." He told her. "Did you see that?" She asked, dumbfounded. "He hardly said anything!" Justin shrugged. "Even I don't get it."

* * *

"So, is this the best dinner you've ever had?" Max asked Julia, noticing she could hardly put her fork down. "Yeah, actually." She told him, sort of wishing it was acceptable to lick her plate clean. "Me too." He agreed. Theresa cleared her throat and, almost automatically, he replied: "No offense, Mom." "It really is delicious." Theresa commented.

"Thanks." Justin and Harper said at the same time, laughing afterward. "Did you see how _crazy_ those customers went over the new stuff on the menu?" Jerry asked. "This really was a great idea." "Thanks." They said again. More laughter, from all around the table.

"You guys should've made more." Alex told them, not caring if she sounded greedy. She knew that was what everyone was thinking. "Sorry." Came the reply. Alex laughed. That was getting to be creepy. And getting on her nerves.

Despite that, she scraped her plate clean just like everybody else had. When everyone got up from the table, Theresa said: "Dinner was great, thanks again. Justin and Harper replied with: "You're welcome", to which Alex replied with a groan.

"Who's going to help clear the table?" Jerry asked, looking at his kids as well as Harper. Automatically, they began to apologize and make excuses. "I'm too full to do anything right now." Max said, at the same time that Alex said: "I've got art projects to work on." "Yeah, sorry, I'm gonna make some tea and then go read." Justin told his parents.

Loudest of all was Julia, who said: "I'm the guest." Obviously joking. Max laughed. "I've taught her well." The kids walked away in separate directions, even though Justin only had to walk to the counter. He seemed to make an effort to get as far away from the table as possible. Harper wasn't really sure where to go, so she headed to her room. Alex went upstairs while Max and Julia headed downstairs.

Disappointed but not surprised, Jerry began to pile plates on top of each other. "I've got that, Jer." Theresa insisted. He shrugged. "I can handle it. You made dinner." She giggled in reply. "No, _I_ heated up dinner. Justin and Harper made it."

Their voices trailed off and Julia chuckled. She'd been listening from the bottom of the stairs. "Your parents are so cute." She told Max. He smirked. "I know, that's where I get it from."

She tossed her head back laughing, but she wasn't making fun of him. With how happy she seemed, he almost forgot they had something important to discuss. Not wanting to wait any longer to do that, he decided they would talk in the lair, and knowing she wouldn't question it, he took her by the hand and led her there.

They sat together like they always did, but Julia knew right away she'd regret admitting why she hadn't wanted to eat. She waited for Max to speak first. "I don't get it." He said finally.

"You went outside for _less_ _than_ a minute and you came back looking like…" He struggled for words and came up with: "Well, it's worse than the puppy dog face!" She nodded, not sure how to respond.

"What happened?" He asked, looking at her with the same expression she'd had on just before he convinced her to eat. "She told me she's going on a date." Julia admitted, sighing. She rolled her eyes, which told him she found that absolutely ridiculous.

"So, I'm guessing you wish she'd be back with your dad instead of on a date with some guy you don't even know?" Julia seemed surprised at the question. "Not exactly. I want her to be happy, I just haven't seen my dad in over a year. I miss him." While she was explaining, Julia hadn't notice Max get up to get something.

"I read that letter he wrote you." He admitted, bringing it back to her. She watched as he folded it up, and wished she had a pocket to put it in. "I know I wasn't supposed to. I'm sorry." Julia shrugged. "It's okay. You and your brother seem to have that problem." She mumbled, almost unaware that she had even said that.

"What do you mean?" Max asked, confused. "What are you talking about?" She asked innocently. "I just asked you what you mean." He replied. "And… I… asked you what you were talking about…" "I _know_ what I'm talking about!" Max replied, more to assure himself that he wouldn't let her confuse him, especially not when he knew he was right. "I don't, that's the problem." "You give me a headache." He told her, shaking his head. "But that's okay, you're going through something right now. And… guess what?" "What?" She asked, unintentionally sounding completely uninterested, from feeling so said.

Max smiled at her though, knowing he would make her happy. "I'm going to take you to see your dad."

Julia froze in her shock. A few seconds later, she was sure she would damage his hearing with how much she screamed, so she nearly turned blue trying not to, which made her shake in excitement. "How?" She asked happily, eyes bright and smile wide.

"The I.P.P." He told her. Julia tried to keep a straight face. "Okay, what's that?" "It's stands for Inter-Wizard People Porter." He explained, using the crank on the wall to bring it down. After getting the remote, he walked back over to Julia, who was standing under the I.P.P and trying not to laugh about the word. Soon laughing was the furthest thing from her mind, her smile faded and she seemed scared. Max had never seen her that way.

"And you're sure it's not dangerous, right?" She sounded as scared as she looked, and this disappointed him. Still, he couldn't be mad at her for being afraid. He just looked at her and asked: "Would I ever let anything bad happen to you?"

* * *

Justin had burns on the roof of his mouth. He knew it was his own fault for drinking his tea so fast, not even giving it a chance to cool down. He'd done that for the same reason he rushed though everything lately: to get back reading.

He only had a few pages left to read in Harper's journal. He wasn't sure what he would do when he got to the end. Cry, most likely. Sometimes, his crying wasn't caused by what her read. Not everything Harper had to say in her journal was hopelessly depressing. Sometimes he just cried because he couldn't believe he only know so little when it came to her, for such a long time.

He flipped to a page close to the back, figuring he only had one entry left to go. Like last time, the page was left undated, and just reading the title sent a shock right through him.

_Magic Is Dead._

_You can rewind time, but that wouldn't heal the hurt that I'm already feeling inside._

_I could forget you, but I'll always be haunted by the memories of the feelings I never really tried to hide._

_You might be smart, but you don't know that your charm doesn't come from the spells that you use. Regardless of what anyone says, I've always been cheering for you._

_You can take the color out of my world, the silence just tells me that it can't be real. It shows me what I know all along. Even without fear, I can't stay strong._

_Magic Is Dead._

_Magic was supposed to be her defense mechanism. Magic only brought trouble. Magic was supposed to be his excuse. Magic stayed looking flawless, and he was taken for the screw-up instead._

_And what was magic for you? The only thing you know how to do? It's magic's fault for making you think intelligence is all you have._

Justin didn't like how much sense that meant to him. He didn't want something like that to be true. He read on regardless, unable to stop.

_Magic used to be just shopping with my best friend. Magic used to be my ability to blend. Magic had to do with a feeling of bliss. Magic was all about the unexpected twists. Magic used to be knowing who was there for you. Magic was love at first sight. Magic used to be the sound of the crowd cheering. Magic was being part of moments people never forget. Magic came from something as simple as setting a goal and reaching it._

_Magic died the day I found out the truth. Magic didn't change anything. I came home, crawling in through the window, so I could slam my door and not have to hear screaming. Except, the screaming snuck in from under the doorway, and chased me into a corner. Magic didn't help, even when I begged you'd somehow show up and save me from all I ever knew._

_In that instance, on the day that changed everything, I realized what really happened. Two things: One that I chose, and one I never saw coming._

_1. Magic died because I stopped believing in it. Will someone bring it back for me?_

_2. For some reason I feel sorry, since this is something I cannot control._

Justin had reached the end of the last page. He kept staring at the page, knowing that couldn't be it. He needed to read more, there had to _be_ more. That last sentence was something he just couldn't consider an ending.

That's because it wasn't. He looked to the right, the inside of the back cover. He saw one question written, covering almost all the space left. Justin knew before he even read it that it was going to be more difficult for him to handle than anything else in the book. And he hated being proven right.

_WHEN DID YOUR BLUE EYES GET SO DAMN DULL?_

**Thanks for reading! Please review, I'll update soon. Sorry if I got the what I.P.P. stands for wrong, I was just going by what I heard.**


	13. Part Of The Plan

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

The shadows in Julia's "Ant's on Fire" painting were becoming more clear to Alex as she brought them up to scale. The shadows in the painting turned out to be people; the first one she noticed was actually her. It was difficult for Alex to bring out her own expression, since it was impossible to look herself in the eye. As she followed the tiny shape, trying to absorb every detail, she began to worry.

_Do I really look like that_? She asked herself. Even just as a silhouette, she looked beautiful. Alex wondered why that bothered her so much, wondered why she worried about living up to the image. She guessed that the world was just brighter in Julia's eyes.

She put her paintbrush down, in need of a break. It was only then that she noticed how quiet the house had gotten. It was scary, it meant something was… off. Something had to be wrong.

* * *

Max and Julia headed up a dirt hill, in the direction of Julia's father's house. Her excitement drove her. She was ahead of him, close to running, despite how bad her knees hurt. She hadn't exactly listened when he told her to bend them.

Max almost called out to her when she got out of sight, but then her footsteps stopped abruptly. Going around the corner, he saw the house in front of him. Cabin, really. The whole place had a very woodsy feel. Of course, it was Maine.

Music flowed through the open air, and Julia seemed to be used to it. It brought a bigger smile to her face. Max followed her when she, surprisingly, went right up to the door. She seemed so calm, and he didn't understand how she thought anyone would hear if she knocked on the door. She did it anyway, waiting patiently for the to be answered, not even thinking about knocking again.

Almost a minute went by, and no one came to answer the door. Max gave Julia a look. "Even _I _know no one's gonna hear you." He told her, almost laughing. She narrowed her eyes, scoffing. "What do that mean, 'even you know'? Be patient." He shook his head. "The music is so loud no one would even notice if a _tree _fell on the house."

"First of all, Max¾that wouldn't happen. Plus, the house is bigger than it looks." As Max made another face in reply, he heard the doorknob turn. Before his eyes could even widen in surprise, the door was open.

Standing in the doorway was a man who¾not that it mattered¾couldn't be the same age as Max's parents. In fact, he looked like he could be in an age bracket closer to Justin's, if anything. It was something that, while shocking Max, made him feel pretty lucky… and he couldn't figure out why.

For a moment, Julia's dad didn't speak. Julia spoke for him instead. "I know I grew," She said to him. "but please don't tell me I did." The door opened completely and father and daughter shared a hug.

It made sense to Max that Julia didn't want to be told that she'd gotten taller. That's what people who hadn't seen each other in a long time would say. She didn't want to be reminded of the time they'd spent apart.

Green eyes of the same shade stared in absolute amazement. "Wow, Julia." The first words out of his mouth, and her dad sounded like he was choking back tears. "Wow, Dad." She agreed, knowing what he meant. He couldn't believe he had his daughter in his arms. Max noticed that, at first, he was very soft-spoken. Even as he pulled back from the long hug he'd just had and said: "So, who's your friend?"

Julia sighed. "He knows how to talk." She replied jokingly, waiting for Max to speak. He introduced himself and her dad shook his hand, saying: "Hey, how're you doin'? I'm Bear."

He could tell by the look on his face that Max thought his name was cool. "Yeah." Bear replied, gesturing to Julia. "I took her mom's last name when we got married 'cause I didn't wanna sound mean." Julia knew Max wouldn't understand, so she explained. "His last name's Hunt." Max laughed at the irony.

"Its gotta be cold out there, right?" Bear asked the kids. "Come in, the party's just starting." The word 'party' was all it took. Max and Julia found themselves standing in the surprisingly spacious living room.

"Who are all these people?" Max asked. Looking around, he could see people of every age group, most likely families. "Oh, these are my wizard friends." Bear told them. "Well, most of them are, anyway." Julia laughed. "Speaking of wizard friends…" Bear figured out what she was saying before she even finished her sentence.

"So _that's _how you guys got here, the I.P.P.!" A chorus of laughter was heard from the background. Julia shook her head, trying not to laugh along. "It's not that funny."

"You remembered to bend your knees, right?" Bear whispered, embarrassing Julia but not annoying her. "_No_." Max told him. "She completely disregarded my warning." Julia raised her eyebrows, thinking he sounded like Justin.

"Ugh, terrible." Bear joked, picking his daughter up. "How are you supposed to dance if your knees hurt?" He spun her around then, and she wanted to laugh. As he walked her to the dance floor, she had to argue.

"Dad, you _know_ I can't dance." "What are you talking about?" He asked her. Max had to laugh at how much she was overreacting, trying to pull away from her father's grip while reaching out to him with the other hand. Once again, he saw fear come across her face. That made him realize she really didn't want to do this.

"You dance all the time." "Not slow dance." She replied, pointing out the tempo of the song that was on. Coincidentally, it was "Daughters" by John Mayer.

Max watched from where he stood, and saw Julia eventually give in. In a way, it reminded him of when Alex danced with his dad at her Quinceañera. He knew it was a different story for her, though. Almost as if they were trying to test their bond. It was obvious to him from the second the door had opened that their bond was unbreakable.

As he watched the two of them try to avoid getting dizzy from going in too many circles, he finally understood what the song meant. He had heard it plenty of times before, but only then did it make sense. While Julia and her dad were dancing, Max was admiring her. He began to feel awkward standing where he was, which was new to him. So, he started walking to where they were, but something slowed him down. He didn't want to interrupt anybody, be he couldn't stop himself from walking over there. Even though he couldn't help but take it slowly.

When the song ended, Julia turned to see Max behind her. "You're such a liar." He accused, not trying to sound mean. "You can slow dance." Julia shrugged nervously in reply. Not knowing, not really caring, how anyone would react, she asked him: "Can you?"

* * *

"What's wrong?" Alex heard her mom ask while she was walking down the stairs. She saw her parents sitting on the couch with Justin. "Nothing." He said softly, but she could see he looked pale. _Pale? _She asked herself. _Why would he look pale? _

"Are you sick?" She couldn't help but ask. "No, I'm fine." He told her, getting up from the couch and walking away, trying to push past her on the stairs. "Where are you going?" Jerry asked. "Your sister, your mom and I are very concerned about you."

"I'm fine." He repeated, keeping the same calm tone. "Then sit down and talk to us." Jerry ordered. "There's nothing to talk about." Justin replied, frustrated. "I'm fine." He said for a third time, in the exact same tone. "Wait a second." Alex said, blocking his way. "You're not fine, and I know you're not fine, because you keep saying you're fine."

The response she got for that was a whimper. It surprised Alex to the point where she jumped. Realizing he had nowhere to go, Justin said nothing after that. He stood between his sister and his parents, waiting for them to say something to him. "Come here." Theresa said finally. He listened, slowly making his way back over. When he did, Theresa pulled him into the hug that was meant for the time they had talked about the book. As she felt him nearly go limp in her arms, she had no idea the way he was acting was caused by the same thing.

Mid-hug, a phone was heard ringing. Beeping actually. Jerry looked at the spot next to him on the couch, where Julia's phone was. He didn't know how to stop the alert. Even if he did, he didn't know where Julia was. Alex spoke his thoughts.

"Where's Julia?" "Wherever Max is." He guessed. "Where's that?" Justin asked, since he was done with his hug. "I don't know." Jerry replied. "Last time I saw them they were going downstairs." Theresa recalled. "Downstairs?" Justin stammered, sure that he looked even paler than before. He tried to get back his calm tone afterward.

"Oh, well… then they're downstairs." Jerry nodded, knowing he was acting weird. "Well, her phone's going off. I'll go get her." "No!" Justin yelled, which he knew was the wrong thing to do. It would only make his family more suspicious. He cleared his throat for cover, and said: "I'll find her." He reached for her phone and Jerry handed it to him.

Once Justin was out of the room, Alex turned to her parents "What is _wrong _with him?" "Let's go find out." Theresa said, annoyed with the way her son was acting. Jerry nodded in agreement leading his wife and daughter downstairs.

Justin ran into the lair at full speed, even though he knew it wouldn't help. Max and Julia weren't there, but he was praying that they'd show up soon. He expected them to walk in laughing, but he barely noticed Max walk up behind him. "Are you looking for me?"

Justin wondered if it was possible for him to turn any paler, as he spun around trying to hide his surprise. He found that impossible, since he found Julia in Max's arms. "What?" He asked innocently, seeing Justin stare in disbelief. "What is _this_?" He asked, chuckling, while trying to get Max to at least walk into the kitchen. He didn't have time to waste, and he knew Alex and his parents couldn't be too far away.

Max walked with him while explaining. "She was tired." He whispered, not wanting to wake his sleeping friend. "She tore up the dance floor, so cut her some slack, alright?" Justin almost laughed but he had to ask. "Dance floor _where_?" "Her dad's house." Max said simply. "Her dad's house _where_?" "Maine." "What were you doing at her dad's house in M¾"

Justin couldn't finish. He walked out of the kitchen to find Alex and his parents standing right in front of them. "You told her our secret?!" Alex whispered angrily, not wanting to wake Julia up. "Yeah." Max replied bluntly. "When was this?" Jerry asked, angry as well. He had his arms crossed. "The second day I knew her." He admitted. Even Justin didn't know that.

"Has she told anyone?" Theresa asked, deciding whether or not to be mad. "_No_." Max answered, as if it sounded ridiculous to him. "Not even her mom?" "No, the only one who knows is her dad, and some of his best friends are wizards." "Okay." Jerry said when he heard this. "We can discuss this more tomorrow. Right now, Julia has to get home."

Max nodded, motioning to his brother to give him the phone. Justin did, and the alert went off right when Max put it up to her ear. She woke up with a startled scream and, realizing what happened, glared at Max. The others couldn't help laughing. "I'll get you back for this. too." She whispered. "Okay, but not more sour milk, _please_."

* * *

The rest of the night started out as quiet as it had been when Max and Julia left for Bear's house.

Justin stood at the top of the basement stairs, deciding if going down was a good idea. "Hey, Justin." That told him that he didn't have a choice. He came down and found Harper sitting on her bed, in the middle of drawing something. "How did you know I was there?" "Your eyes are really bright." She joked, as if he was the hum equivalent of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He faked a smile to suppress the sadness he felt he felt over hearing that statement. He saw that she could tell, so he tried to come up with something to talk about. It was then he noticed something that really made him smile, and that showed in his voice.

"Hey, you look like you!" Harper laughed happily, knowing he was talking about her outfit. She was wearing her newest design. "Except, uh… what are you supposed to be?" She turned to him, surprised he couldn't tell. She thought that it was blatantly obvious.

"A broken television. See¾color panel…" That was the pattern on her black shirt. "Static." Her pants looked exactly like the 'snow channel'. "Rabbit ears." She said, showing him her earrings. They did look exactly like tiny antennas, one of which was clearly bent. He laughed, but his laughter didn't last long. Needing to find another distraction, he spotted the carnation. Harper had put it in a small vase. "Why did you get this?" He asked her, barely above a whisper. She shrugged. "Mostly decoration. "And why else?"

Harper got up and walked over to him. "I wanted to inspire you." She said. Then sadly, "You never play anymore." "I know." He found it sad too. "I just can't." He admitted. "Why not?" Harper sounded angry, even though she was only disappointed. She never knew him to be one to give up. "Because." He took a deep breath and told her exactly what he was thinking. "I don't want there to have to be a Plan B!" She crossed her arms, scoffing. "Who ever said music has to be your _back_-_up_ plan?" She lowered her tone to be nicer. "Passion isn't always part of the plan, Justin."

He grinned, finding her saying clever. "Now that I can understand." "So, then… go get your guitar." She suggested. "Maybe I'll help you write something." Harper worried that she would regret that sentence, but Justin couldn't even tell if she was being serious. "Would you?" He asked, making that clear. She nodded, watching him leave. She thought about saying "I'll be here." but he already knew that. She wondered if he even wanted to know that, figuring he might not come back down once he found his guitar. She wondered if he'd just end up staying in his room, playing for himself.

He wondered if she knew how fast his feet were moving.

**Thanks for reading. I know this took awhile, the internet's been down on my laptop for awhile and sadly, it still is. I had time so I did this on the computer. How was it? I'll update soon!**


	14. The Worst And The Best

Alex woke up the next morning to find her entire family, minus Max, already downstairs. She noticed that Harper wasn't out of the basement yet, but figured she would show up soon enough, since she had to be up already. Before Alex could ask about breakfast, the doorbell rang. "It's Julia." She guessed, sort of knowing she'd be right.

It was, except she could hardly be seen over the two oversized cupcakes her from view. Trying not to laugh, Alex called up the stairs to her brother. "Max! Julia brought you cupcakes!"

Max was at the bottom of the stairs in a matter of seconds. He froze when he caught sight of his present. "Oh my gosh, I can't even see you." The tray moved up and down when Julia laughed at his comment, but he could hear a bit of pain in her voice when she spoke. "This is really heavy." In response to that, Max took the tray from her and put it on the counter. It was only then that he noticed she had one hand behind her back. He gave her a questioning look, so she showed him what he was holding.

"I also brought you a pineapple." He didn't know what to say, considering he never even told her he like pineapple. "Thanks." Julia shrugged. "I owed it to you." She told him, still standing in the doorway. He told her to come in, with his eyes, and she understood perfectly. The only one who witnessed that 'conversation' was Alex.

As soon as Julia walked in, the beaded belt on her layered skirt making sound as she walked, people started asking her questions. "So, you _know_ about magic." Jerry said. It wasn't a question, but he looked at her to answer as if it was. Before she could, Max was talking. "_Dad…_" He whispered. Which was a warning, since he knew she was embarrassed. "Relax, Max." He said, trying to be nice. "I'm just making conversation." "You hate it, don't you?" Theresa said, making Jerry laugh. "No." That was all she said.

"Have you read any spell books yet?" Justin asked her, making Alex roll her eyes. "Why would she do that? She has no use for spells." She blinked, having a thought. "You do have no use for spells, right?" She asked, sitting on the couch. Julia almost laughed. "Alex, just because I'm mortal doesn't meant I don't enjoy reading spell books." Before finishing her statement, she looked at Justin. "Knowledge is hot."

That would've been an awkward moment if Harper hadn't laugh as she walked into the room, and she didn't laugh just to fill the space. "It's true."

* * *

Later on that morning, Harper was watching Alex trying to repaint Julia's painting. "You're in it too." Her best friend told her. She paused afterward, with a questioning look on her face. "Aren't you bored just watching me? Grab a paintbrush and start painting something besides _mountain scenes." _She mocked. Harper laughed and took her advice.

They hardly talked while they painted. Alex really had to concentrate since Julia's picture was so small, and she didn't want to make any mistakes. She had to focus, and that frustrated her. After awhile neither of them could stand the silence. "Can I ask you a question?" Harper asked, while she covered her entire canvas with color. That was just the background, she had no idea what she was going to do with the painting itself.

"Hmm?" Alex replied, barely listening. She didn't want to let anything distract her from her work. "What's wrong with Justin lately?" Alex shrugged. "He won't tell us. I thought you'd know." "Why?!" Alex gave her a look. "Why not? I'm just saying. By the way. How much did you guys cook? I'm still finding food, Dad's never been happier…" Something crossed Alex's mind at that moment. She put her paintbrush down and waited for her best friend to stop what she was doing.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Harper saw a change in Alex's expression. She went from focused to almost furious in a matter of seconds. It didn't make sense. Alex took a deep breath before saying what was on her mind. "When did you guys find the time to do all that stuff?" Harper gave that some thought. "Well, I think it was around 11:30 when he woke me up." "_11_:_30_!" Alex repeated.

"Well, it might have been a little later." She admitted, sort of intimidated. Alex put her hands up, even more frustrated. "I thought we went through this already." "What do you mean?" Harper asked, trying to meet her gaze. Alex rolled her eyes, but then just sighed wishing Harper would try to see things from her perspective.

"You… him? It can't happen." Hearing this, Harper almost laughed. "This isn't funny. You don't get it." "_Actually_ Alex, you don't get it." Alex scoffed. "Yeah, explain it then." "I don't like him. Not that way." Alex narrowed her eyes, but that wasn't because she was mad. She was confused. She could tell Harper was serious.

As if written proof wasn't enough, the words were heard coming out of her mouth. Justin couldn't believe his ears as he stood outside his ears as he stood outside his sister's door, listening to the two girls laugh. This meant the world had turned upside down.

That perfect made sense to him and he wish it didn't. For the billionth time since Harper moved in he wished what went on didn't make so much sense. If that was the case, it would hurt a lot less.

He went back to his room and felt like ripping every single page out of Harper's journal. He'd ignored his conscience and read the entire thing cover to cover, and that meant he would suffer the consequences. He was haunted by what was no longer hidden behind her plastic smile. She'd invaded his mind and she wouldn't stay out of his dreams, and he hated it. He'd loved being able to Harper as a friend, but all that was ruined. He didn't know what to call her anymore, he never really did. There was one word he had for her, that he pushed to the back of his mind every time it surface. If she was going to make him question who _he _was, if she was going to make everything different and difficult, then maybe she didn't even deserve to know what that word was.

* * *

Julia ran off to the lair when Max was midway through eating his first cupcake, which actually required a knife and fork. The second he noticed she wasn't with him, he went to find out why.

She was just sitting there, in a trance. "What's wrong now?" She looked at Max and asked: "Did you ever have one of those moments where you have no idea what's going on?" He just laughed in reply. "What's really bad is when you feel like you're the only person who knows what's going on." Julia admitted. Max sat down next to her. "I've never had one of those moments." He said. "Well, then you're lucky." He shook his head. "Will you please stop saying that?" Julia didn't understand. "Why? It's good to be lucky."

"Yeah, but I'm n—" He cut himself off, thinking his sentence over in his head before letting it come out of his mouth. "You're right, I am lucky." "I wish I was lucky enough to be clueless in this situation. I feel so guilty." "About what?" Max asked her. She laughed bitterly. "Trust me, Max. You don't wanna know." "Then why did I ask?" Julia shrugged, but she knew how to answer. "You're a good friend, that's why."

They were silent for awhile until Julia said: "Actually, you're the only friend I ever had." Max laughed. "Stop lying." "I'm not lying. Lying is how friends get lost." "How would you know if you've never had any before me?" He teased. Julia sighed. Then she said something Max wasn't expecting. "My parents were friends, and then they started lying to each other…"

Everywhere he went, Justin was feeling more and more guilty about reading Harper's journal. He basically lied to her face. He couldn't stand the thought of it. It wasn't possible for him to lie to anybody, it was something he just never did. It was even worse realizing he was going to lose a friend over that lie. It was coming back to haunt him. He might have been able to handle lying, but the pressure was building on him.

He knew he couldn't tell anyone what was going on, at least not his parents. They were already suspicious of what he was doing. He didn't want to lose their trust as well, but he had to say something, because guilt wasn't proving strongest in the mix of emotions that flooded his heart.

"Psst." Alex's automatic reaction was to turn around and glare in the direction the whisper had come from. She could see her older brother standing in the doorway. "What?" She whispered back. Justin motioned for her to come closer. She opened up the door all the way. "Can't you see we're busy?"

"Yeah, great." He answered sarcastically, trying to guide his sister to his room. They found themselves standing in the middle of his bedroom floor. "What do you want?" Alex was hoping the conversation would go quickly, she had work to do.

"Advice?" "You don't even know what you got me here for?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Not really." "Oh, well, then… bye." She started to walk out of the room, but he pulled her back. "I need your help." "What's going on with you lately?" She asked. "I don't know." Justin admitted. "So, again. Why am I here?"

"I don't have anybody else to talk to." "Conversations usually have a point. What's yours?" He looked hopeless, she looked annoyed. "Say _something_." She told him. "I don't even know what your problem is, maybe you should find someone who does." He gave that statement some thought, surprised at himself. "I would, but Julia probably hates my guts right now."

"Julia?" Alex echoed. "Yeah, she's the only one who actually knows what's going on in this house… and she doesn't even live here." Alex gave a silent sigh. "So what if she hates you? If you have to talk, then talk." Alex went for the door a second time and Justin let her go. She stopped at his doorway and turned around, pointing at him. "By the way, she must not hate you too much, since she put you in her painting."

* * *

"Cool." Julia said, as she and Max walked into the living room. "What is?" He asked her. "Your brother's guitar." She answered, since she saw it on the couch. "Don't touch—" She disobeyed Max's order before it was even given. She ran her fingers over the strings, too gently to actually play anything.

"C'mon." He warned, afraid she was going to get in trouble. She didn't listen and Max's sighed. "Does it have a sign on it? " He asked Julia. She made a face. "No." "Well it should. He's gonna be mad." "I don't think so." Julia replied. "I'll blackmail him." She said, flashing that sly smile of hers. "Yeah, you would." Max said, thinking about it. "Wait, with what?" "I'll find something."

"You can't blackmail him to not be mad at you." "_I _can't?" Julia asked. "_You_ probably can." He decided. "Why do you keep touching it?" He asked, seeing her trace the outline of the instrument. "I'm not touching it." She argued. "I'm watching you." " I see that. I'm getting acquainted." She corrected him.

"Getting acquainted." Max repeated, sounding annoyed. "You're putting your fingers all over Justin's guitar." When he said that, Julia knew he was only teasing her. "Yes." She said. "That's how I get acquainted." Max sat down next to her. "It's not how you got acquainted with me."

Feeling guilty, like she'd done something wrong, Julia put the guitar down. She turned Max's face to her as she touched it, but didn't do that for too long, thinking she would scare him and that the whole situation was just plain awkward. She didn't notice the sad look on his face when she went back to the guitar.

"Now can you let me play?" She asked. Max was almost as shocked by that as he was when she touched his face. "You… play?" "I do." She answered matter-of-factly. "What do you want me to play?" "Anything." "Alright." She started strumming chords, and it took awhile for Max to realize what song she was playing, since she put her own spin on it. It took a few seconds for him to figure out that it was "Everlong" by Foo Fighters. He was impressed, and smiled the whole time Julia was playing.

"Where did you learn how to play?" Max asked her. "Well, the first time I ever saw a guitar I was in a pawn shop. With my dad. On one of our many adventures. The second I saw it, I just picked it up and started playing. I was terrible my first try so I just kept playing. The owner wasn't mad because, I guess, he'd never seen anything like it. I remember my dad asked me why I play 'til my fingers blistered."

"What did you say?" "I told him that that was true dedication, and there was nothing better than music." Max nodded in agreement, but then Julia said: "Except love, but they're tied." She was almost gushing. "In fact, I don't think there's a difference. If one comes without the other, it's not real… and it's not worth it."

"Where do you come up with these things?" Max asked her, making her laugh silently. "It's just how I always felt, I guess." She told him. Max thought about that for a second and said: Wanna see my songbook?" "Why didn't you tell me you had one before?" Julia asked him, smiling. "Why didn't you ask?" "Why didn't you just _tell _me?" "Why do you have to be the kind of friend that doesn't let it go after that?" Julia shrugged. "It keeps you talking, I guess." She admitted.

"You like it when I talk?" "What's wrong with when you talk?" "Most people think it's annoying." "Most people don't know you like I do. You live up to your name." "I still haven't figured out what it means." Max admitted. "Your name? Oh, come _on_. It's so obvious."

"To you, maybe." He replied, getting up from the couch to walk upstairs. Julia held him back for a second. "To put it simply, you're the best." "What's your name mean?" "Well, Julia means 'forever young' and Wyatt means 'brave, strong and ready for combat'." She told him, laughing. "What's your middle name mean?" "Loved and slender." She answered quickly. "What _is _your middle name, anyway?" "I'm not telling you, it's embarrassing." "I'll be your best friend." He said. Julia rolled her eyes. "Max, you _are _my best friend."

* * *

Justin walked past his brother's room to find Julia sitting crossed-legged on the floor, flipping through his song book. He almost laughed because her eyes were glued to the pages, and he could relate. He was going to just leave her alone, but he remembered what Alex had said and felt obligated to ask for advice. So, he knocked on the open door. "It's for you." Max said. She giggled. "How do you know?" "He's right." Justin said. "Can I ask you a question?" Julia got up and walked out into the hallway.

"That all depends." She whispered. "If you wanna discuss anything related to your latest piece of _reading material_, then I'm definitely not up for that." "Okay. _Technically_, it's not my latest piece of reading material because I'm finished with it." "Oh, good. That means there's nothing to talk about, then." "You're the only one who can help me figure out what to do."

"No. _You're _the only one who can help you figure out what to do. I can't tell you how to feel." "Who said I was feeling… anything?" Julia gave Justin a look. "Please, since I moved here, Jarper's my new favorite couple." "Hey!" "That just my opinion, though." She reminded him. "Okay, whatever." He said, trying to not to sound mean. "Just… what am I supposed to say now? I don't know how to talk to her anymore."

"Why do you even have to talk?" "Well, what else am I gonna do?" Justin lowered his tone to a whisper. "Give Harper the silent treatment for the rest of my life?" "No. I think you should say something, I just don't think you should talk when you do." "_What _does that mean?" He just looked at her, hopeless. Before walking back into Max's room, Julia said: "You're smart, Justin. You'll figure it out."

He gave another heavy sigh and Julia went back to her spot on the floor. Justin walked away knowing she wasn't going to do anything more to help him. He knew she was mad, she had a right to be. Plus, she made a point. This was her problem, not hers.

"Hey, Max?" He looked at Julia. "Yeah?" "Did I ever thank you for taking me to see my dad?" He shook his head. "It's okay. You were kind of tired, and besides, you're probably still annoyed with me for putting the phone right up to your ear." Thinking about what happened last time he did something wrong, Max said: "It's fine if not thanking me is your payback, you know."

Julia laughed lightly, and stood up to face Max. She walked up to him slowly, and gave him a hug. He smiled and hugged her back. "Thank you, Max." She said. A second later, her lips touched his skin.

A second after that, she was standing over him, wondering how he could've possibly passed out.

**Finally, I got to update! How was it? The reson behind the song choice (just in case anyone was wondering) is because of one of the behind the scenes features when the actors listed what was on their iPods. I'll try to update soon!**


	15. Weirder Than Normal

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

Unfortunately for Julia, she got an alert right after Max fainted. She didn't feel right just leaving him like that, but she had no choice. When she walked out of his room a second time, Justin saw the look on her face: Total confusion, and maybe even sorrow. She explained what happened in two quick words, which were—instead of the obvious choice, something to the effect of 'Max fainted'— "Look it." Justin laughed and did as she said while she hurried away, too embarrassed to admit why that had happened.

Ruby greeted her with a smile and a hug once she reached home. She was always hugging her, being so happy that she found a boyfriend. Julia hadn't met him yet, and she didn't know if she wanted to. "Did Max like the cupcakes, Sweetie?" Julia nodded. "How is everyone?" "Good. Mostly." She didn't mean to add that part, but she really didn't know how Justin was really feeling so she couldn't speak for him. Ruby didn't take that response as a bad thing, and Julia guessed that was because she wasn't really listening.

* * *

Later that night, Jerry was hungry and went to see if there was any more of Justin and Harper's food in the fridge. He was surprised to find both his sons sitting at the kitchen table. "What's up, guys?" He didn't mean that in a greeting kind of way, he figured something had to be wrong.

"Can't say." Justin replied quietly. "Can't remember." Max admitted, making his brother laugh. "You passed out." Justin reminded him. "Well I remember _that_. It's what happened before it that I don't remember." "It was probably something Julia did." Justin whispered while his dad went over to the counter and found a plate covered with aluminum foil. "Like what?" "I don't know, has she ever said or done anything that's shocked you before?" In response to that, Max laughed. "Only about ten times a day."

"You guys made cookies?" Jerry asked, making Justin forget what he was gonna say next. "Yeah." Jerry brought them over so they could all share. "By the way Justin, what do you mean you can't say?" He backtracked so he could answered his father's question. "I could, actually. It's just too complicated." "You callin' us stupid?" Max asked. Justin made a face, but still spoke softly. "What? No. Are you trying to get me in trouble?" "What makes you think I am?" Max asked him. "You said 'us'."

"What's bothering you Justin?" Both boys noticed the flat tone of voice their father used. He was tired of not knowing what was going wrong, since only that much was obvious. While Max got quiet, Justin tapped his fingers on the table, thinking of a way to answer as simply as possible. "I am."

Jerry and Max both looked at him. That didn't explain his situation, and only made them worry about him. "C'mon." Jerry told him quietly. "You never keep secrets like this. What's going on?" The two others weren't going to say anything, or even move, until Justin did. Once he realized that, he knew there was no way he could win. He gave a sigh and took Harper's journal from his pocket, setting it down on the table.

The second Jerry and Max realized what they were looking at, they shot looks of disappointment and confusion in Justin's direction. "I know." He said. That was pretty much all he could manage at the moment.

"Jerry?" Theresa called from the top of the stairs. "Down here." He answered, swallowing. She walked down the stairs slowly, tired-eyed. " What's going on?" Justin looked down at the table, and Max looked at his dad to say something. "I just found out what our son's new favorite book is." He knew he shouldn't have phrased it that way, even if it was impossible to see Justin's reaction. He was hurt enough already, but what he'd done was virtually unbelievable. No one could figure out how it happened, not ever Theresa, who gasped when she saw the cover of Harper's journal as Jerry held it up.

"Can everyone please just yell it me now and get it over with?" Justin asked, right at the moment his sister walked down the stairs. She didn't say anything, waiting to hear what Jerry would. "We'll yell at you tomorrow." He whispered angrily. "Right now we should all just go back to bed." Max shook his head. "I'm not going to bed until I figure out what happened to me." Justin rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just ask Julia in the morning? I'm sure she'll be over as sun as the sun's up!" Max blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?" Justin stood up, practically screaming. "It means she has a _ridiculous_ crush on you! It's getting on everyone's nerves!" "No, you're getting on mine." Alex said as she walked up to her older brother, with her hands on her hips. "I'll tell you what's ridiculous—" She cut herself off when she saw what was on the table.

She picked up the journal and used it to hit Justin on the head. That surprised everyone. They knew she would hit him, they just didn't expect she'd be so upset her voice would crack when she spoke. "Did that knock some sense into you?! What is your _problem_?!"

"I'll let you know as soon as I figure that out for myself. Thank you." He said dryly. Alex blinked, waiting for Justin to explain himself. "At least you yell at me when I ask you to." Theresa let him walk upstairs after saying that. Max and Alex just looked at each other. Jerry sigh ed heavily, getting up from the table. "Tomorrow's gonna be a rough day." He said to his wife. "I think we should all sleep until 12:00."

Minutes later, everyone was back upstairs in their rooms, just staring up at the ceiling in the dark. Downstairs on the kitchen table, the plate of cookies Justin and Harper had made was left untouched.

* * *

_I don't want to say I knew it was too good to be true. I don't want to have that attitude, like nothing ever lasts. One day shouldn't make so much difference. I know that it does, though. I realized I had a crush on my best friend's older brother one ordinary day, and one day out of the ordinary my feelings were gone. One day was all it took. I had a lot of time between those days to do something about it, but I always had that attitude. It's too good to be true, so it must be a lie. A lie isn't worth my time, which is why it was all wasted._

_I didn't always waste time. I cherished the days I spent with him, back when he said that __**we **__were best friends. Things change. I don't really mind that one day, just one ordinary day, he stopped saying we were best friends. I guess it bothered me, though, that we had to stop being anything close to friends too._

_Honestly, I was more than bothered. I was heart-broken. I guess it's my fault that I never let it show. I wonder what would've happened if I did. _

_I know what it's like to feel in need of a wake-up call. It's scary when all the days start to blend. I surrounded myself with people I could never have a dull moment with, to prevent that from happening, but I forgot to say how thankful I am for it. There's so much I always failed to mention. Does that mean I failed completely? Every time I do something wrong, I feel like a failure. The whole world just crashes down on me. _

_It just so happens that on the day that I __**want **__to talk about these things, no one's here to listen..._

Harper sighed when she finished her journal entry, glad that at least the paper was there to listen. She didn't know why she woke up in the middle of the night just to write it. She just felt like she'd missed something.

* * *

Julia didn't show up at the Russo's as soon as the sun rose. She called up the house around 9:00 and, because he was the only one awake, Max answered the phone. "Hey." She greeted, sounding as exhausted as he felt. "I know it's early but can you come over? I really need someone to talk to."

Max found Julia sitting crossed-legged on her top bunk. She was actually still in her pajamas, which were pink and purple tie-dye. "Mom at work already?" He asked her. She just nodded. He could tell something was wrong, but before he got to ask, she was looking at him, concerned.

"What happened? You look worse than I did when I found out my mom was dating." "I found out what you meant when you said Justin was unfair." Max answered, climbing up the ladder and sitting down so that they were facing each other. "When?" She asked, feeling sorry she hadn't told him first. "Last night. Everyone knows. Except for Harper."

"That's great." Julia said sarcastically, but she sounded more sad than angry. "What's wrong?" Max asked her. "Sorry for just leaving yesterday." She began. "And sorry for… you know—" Julia barely looked at him when she said that.

"Not really." Max admitted, making Julia give him a weird look. "I don't exactly remember what happened." "Are you saying that because you don't _want _to remember what happened, or did I actually make you repress a memory?"

Max thought for a second, and Julia's stomach turned. She felt like no matter what, their conversation couldn't end well. She didn't know how she'd be able to deal with losing the only friend she had. "Uh, I guess… the latter." Max replied. Hearing that, Julia couldn't help but laugh. "Did you learn that word from your brother?" "Yeah."

Julia felt bad thinking that Max was only on his way to cheering her up, but she couldn't help but ask: "Why?" She could see he was confused. "What do you mean?" "Did you learn it because you wanted to, or did it just happen?" Max didn't know what to say. Julia sighed. "I'm sorry. Again. I know I'm being annoying... and avoiding the subject."

Max shook his head. "No, I just don't understand what—" "Why did you pass out? I mean, I know what made you faint because I know what I did, but… was it a good thing or a bad thing?"

Max shrugged. "How am I supposed to answer if I don't know what you did?" "I kissed you." She told him. "But it was only on the cheek. And I know I shouldn't say 'only' because that can hold a lot of meaning too, but I was just thanking you. And I know I should say 'just', because… well, maybe I wasn't just thanking you. I shouldn't say 'maybe' either, I should have this figured out. I'm sorry, Max."

He sighed. "Alright, you know what you shouldn't say? You shouldn't say sorry. Don't apologize for being nice, and don't apologize for not knowing exactly how you're feeling. I get it. Right now, life is just a little weirder than normal."

* * *

"I'm sorry." Those were the first words out of Alex's mouth when she got up the next morning, much earlier than even she expected. She said those words to Justin, and he was caught off guard. "I overreacted. Does your head still hurt?" He almost laughed at that. "Yeah, but that's only because I still can't figure out what to do." He admitted.

Alex gave a soft sigh. "I think you should talk to Harper." "Now?" Justin asked, since he was afraid to. "Soon." Alex replied. "I know I have to it's just… _I_ can't even believe what I did! How am I supposed to explain it to her?" "She'll forgive you, I know she will. But be honest. You've done enough lying already."

* * *

Harper was there to open her door just seconds after Justin knocked on it. He stood there silently for awhile, with his hands in his pockets, and she gave him a questioning look. "Good morning." She said with a smile, since the silence was making her skin crawl. With a sigh, Justin walked in and they both went down the stairs. It was only once they reached the bottom that Justin responded. " Yeah. I really hope so."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Harper asked. Confusion filled her eyes, and she knew something had gone right over her head. Something important. "Because." Justin said. "I found your journal." Harper laughed a little, not understanding. "How is that bad?" Justin took a deep breath and admitted what he had to.

"I found it the day you lost it…"

**I'm so glad I got to update! How was that? Next chapter I'm aiming for much more drama.**

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	16. Shades Of Gray And Seconds Difference

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

It had been a week since Justin told Harper about taking her journal. She'd said she wasn't mad, but hardly talked to anyone since. That wasn't the only that had him worried. Everyone had noticed something weird was going on. Harper wasn't the only one barely around.

Julia hadn't come over. And she was over every day.

Naturally, Max went over to her house. He wanted to know what was going on with his best friend. During the day, she was never around.

That gave Max a thought. He found her hiding place. Julia was helping her mom out at the flower shop. Although Ruby greeted Max with a bright smile, Julia didn't even seem to notice he was there. She was lost in her work, rearranging every display, watering ever plant, and cleaning things until they were spotless.

"Hey, wanna hang out?" Max asked, hoping to catch her attention. She seemed to see nothing but the flowers. At the sound of Max's voice, Julia practically flinched. Her light green eyes focused on him for just a second, while she delivered her reply: a very blunt: "No."

Then she turned on her heel, headed for the back room.

Ruby looked at Max, knowing how he was feeling. "Julia! Come back here and apologize!" She ordered. He barely heard a word, still staring at the spot where Julia had just been standing. In all his confusion, he realized something.

Her outfit. To anyone else, that detail would have been insignificant. To Max, it meant something. It defined Julia. At that moment, Max was trying to figure out what the definition of a faded green t-shirt, tan pants, and white sneakers was supposed to be. His thoughts were interrupted by Ruby's voice. "Julia!"

"I'll go get her." Max said, before he even realized he'd opened his mouth. Ruby sighed and let him.

The walk to where Julia was took literally fifteen steps to reach. Max felt like it took him a year. The second he was through the door, his chest got tighter. He couldn't explain why, but he had to remind himself to breathe.

For some reason, he couldn't stop staring at the floor. It was full of papers, scattered everywhere. There was obviously something written on them, but Max couldn't see what that was since he felt so dizzy. Something was wrong. Before he saw it, he heard it.

The sharp edge of a sob that Julia tried to swallow.

* * *

Alex was lying on the couch. She buried her face in her hands and groaned. "I never thought I'd say this and actually mean it. This is all your fault." Justin, who was sitting in the chair next to her, nodded. He couldn't argue, and he didn't even want to. "I don't understand. Justin, you're the good one. Why'd you do this?" He knew how to answer that. "Because, I was just as confused as you are now."

"Why didn't you just talk to Harper then, if you wanted to know who she was so badly?" Justin sighed. "I think you know as well as I do that everything in her journal was the side of Harper we never get to see." Alex almost scoffed. "What happened to trust? I thought _you_ believed in that." "I do." Alex sat up, looking her brother directly in the eye. "I don't mean to add insult to injury again, but you just broke it."

"I know, but she wasn't being fair to me either." Alex was taken aback. "What do you mean, Justin?"

"How do you think I feel? Just when I see someone in a whole new light, they put me in the dark!"

After what Justin had done, and the way everyone reacted, everyone felt like they had plunged into darkness, and there was no success in the search for the light at the end of the tunnel. Everything was just shades of gray.

* * *

"Julia, why are you crying?" Avoiding eye contact, she squeaked out an answer. "I'm not." Max raised his eyebrows. "So you've sprung a leak from your eyeballs?" Even though she didn't say anything, the miserable look on Julia's face told Max that he'd chosen the worst possible time to crack jokes.

He sat down next to her, their backs leaning against the emergency exit. "I thought one of the rules of being best friends with someone is that you tell each other everything." Max said. Julia thought about how to respond. She could say she didn't play by the rules, but that was just mean. She could say he was making her feel guilty. Even though that was true, Julia brought most of that guilt on herself. Before she could say anything, Max spoke again. He had realized something, and he wouldn't forget to mention it. It was something to prove that while he might not know what Julia was going through, he knew how she felt. He was hurt too.

"You just lied to me." He said quietly, the shock he felt creeping into his tone of voice. Julia looked right at him, feeling like she was going to burst into tears. She sobbed again, louder. _I can't believe I let you see me like this_. Julia thought. That's not what she said though.

"It's not the first time."

"What?" Max couldn't help but be mad, but that's not all he felt. He was crestfallen. She said she would never lie to him, and she did. More than once. If she thought lying was how people lost friends, then that meant she didn't see him as her friend. She didn't care about him.

Her eyes didn't say that, though. Her eyes said what her voice barely managed to. "Remember how I said you're the only friend that I've ever had?" Julia asked, as a tear rolled down her cheek. Max didn't answer, he just waited for her to continue talking. "That's not technically true." She confessed. He just stared at her, trying to convince himself that her white lie didn't make a difference. It hardly counted as a lie, but the more Max thought that, the more he felt like was lying to himself.

"Before moving here, I never had friends." Julia went on. Despite how much she wanted to find another hiding place, one where Max couldn't follow her, she stayed right where she was, looking right at him through her tears. "I either had enemies, or boyfriends."

Max didn't know he was glaring at Julia. He was so confused, wondering how a girl like her ever had enemies. Boyfriends, he could understand that. Even if just hearing the word made his heart so heavy with envy that it sank into his stomach.

"You know, none of them ever cared about me. So I lied to them all the time. I was a completely different person before I met you. I was my own enemy. I wanted to forget that so badly that I pretended like it wasn't true." She wiped her tears away, but didn't stop crying. "I know it's a stupid thing to lie about, but the reason I'm so upset is that it's still a lie. Something I promised I would never tell you. That only proves one thing."

"Which is?" Max's voice was just above a whisper, and he could tell that even then she wasn't lying to him, but she wasn't telling the whole truth. "I don't know how to be a friend."

Max had a harder time than Julia did when it came to believing what he did next. He laughed.

He couldn't help it. "Now _that's a lie."_ He said, smiling at her. Max didn't smile for long, though. "What's really going on with you?" "A lot." She told him, biting her tongue to try to stop crying. It didn't work. Max was doing the same thing, wondering how he could stand to see her like this.

"Like what?" Julia hesitated. "Please tell me." Max said. " Are you sure you wanna know?" She asked him, as if giving a warning. Max nodded, and since he knew talking about whatever was going on wasn't going to be easy for Julia, he starting asking questions. "Is it… me?" She didn't seem too happy to see him, so Max could only guess that much.

Julia felt worse hearing that, but nodded anyway. "Kind of." "Well, what else? Your parents?" She gave another nod in reply. "And my mom's boyfriend. He hates me." "Why?" Max practically spat out the question, because the thought of anyone hating Julia was absurd. "Because I exist. He doesn't like kids." Max could see Julia was dealing with a lot, but had a feeling she wasn't done talking yet. "I'm mad at myself too. For not standing up for myself. I've never lied so much in my life. And now it's almost like I can't help it." She paused before admitting: "There's something else I never told you."

Max just looked at Julia in anticipation. She laughed at herself. "You know, using the I.P.P was such a waste of time. Even if it was only seconds difference." Now Max was looking at her like she had three heads. "Seconds difference compared to what?"

In response to that, Julia took Max's hand and said: "This." Before he could get over the feeling of the electric shock that went through him, another shock came his way. He looked around, stunned silent. He was standing in the lair, Julia still holding his hand…

**I cut the chapter short when I thought of the new ending. Thanks for reading, PLEASE review! I haven't gotten a review in so long. I'll update ASAP! **


	17. Secret Scar

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

**This chapter is an introduction to the next one.**

Max and Julia stood in silence. They stayed perfectly still, staring straight forward. As if they were afraid to speak, afraid to move, afraid to even look at each other. Julia, because she had no more lies to hide behind with her deepest, darkest secret out in the open. Max wasn t sure why he was scared. Probably because he had a feeling that Julia had much more to tell him. More than anything, he wanted to be wrong about that. But he knew he wouldn t be.

Julia spoke. Her voice sounded sore, and she wasn t sure how to put her words together, but she had to say something. She had to tell him what she was thinking, even though seconds before she had been trying to keep every single thought she had out of her mind. "It's not the only thing I can do." Max looked at her as she finished her sentence, seeing that her face was still red from crying, and she was still fighting back tears. "But it's the only thing I have control over."

Max stayed silent, waiting for Julia to go on talking. It took her awhile to admit what she had to, but after much hesitation, she spoke her mind. "I know it's no excuse for keeping it a secret, but this scares me. Why do you think I'm always reading your spell books? When it comes to magic, you guys know what you're doing."

Again, Max couldn t help but laugh. Us? Do you listen to anything I tell you? We get in trouble with magic, like, once a day. At least. Julia almost overcame her sadness for a second, rolling her eyes at him. See what I mean? You guys have trouble. I ve had incidents. Six of them.

She could tell by the look on his face that Max was confused. He paused for a brief second, in thought. "Didn't you say you moved six times?" Julia sighed. She didn't have to say anything. It clicked.

Her voice had something dark about it when she spoke next. Julia s sadness had clearly turned to anger. That was another thing Max wasn't used to hearing, and he wasn't sure which was worse. "Every time I get close to being exposed, we have to pack up and leave. Find a new hiding place."

Max shuddered. Not only because the word 'exposed' sent a chill down his spine. He wasn't sure why he couldn't stand the thought of his secret getting out to the world. Probably because the government would probe them as if they were aliens.

The fact that Julia spoke in the present tense was shocking. Like she expected it to happen again. But that wasn't the worst part. She called New York City a hiding place, not home.

He knew she probably didn't mean that, that half the things people say when they're angry are lies. But he still hurt. "I don't want to be like this." She told him. "I just want to be normal."

Max took that as an insult. Her powers were considered magic, just like his. And she said she wanted to be normal as if magic was too weird, even for her. _What happened to saying magic was cool?_ Looking at her, Max could tell there was still something she was keeping inside. Something that scared her even more than her powers. But there was only one thing he could think of to tell her. To try and reassure her, to reassure himself. "No one's normal. And no one's perfect."

Abruptly, Julia let go of Max's hand. "You don't get it." She wasn't yelling, but it sounded like she wanted to. "For your family, magic _is_ normal. For mine, magic is what tore it apart." She watched his eyes go wide in reaction. "My dad only started studying magic so that he could protect me. When my mom found out about it, that's when all the fighting happened. She said they were supposed to treat me like I was normal. Not give in."

"Give in to what?" He asked her, getting mad himself. "Magic!" This time she did yell, but seeing his reaction, she lowed her tone. This wasn't Max's fault, and Julia couldn't treat him like it was. "I come from a strictly non-magical family. When my relatives found out what I could do, do you know what they said?" Max didn't guess, even though he knew what she was going to say. Or, at least, part of what she was going to say.

"They called me a freak. They said it was what my parents deserved." "Deserved?" The word came out hushed, but Max felt like screaming. How could anyone call Julia a freak, especially someone in her own family?

"All my mom's siblings laughed it her. They said it was her fault from the start." Something in her eyes told Max she was trying to keep the rest of her secret. There was more to be embarrassed by besides her powers. "What are you so ashamed of?"

Those words were supposed to stay in Max's head. Julia answered his question regardless. "Myself." She hadn't meant to say that out loud either, and Max would have made her take it back if she hadn't pulled something from her pocket, distracting him.

**He** felt like he was watching her shut down. Slowly, she held out her hand, but she couldn't find words to explain what she was showing him. He took the picture from her, and looked at the most beautiful baby he'd ever seen in his life. She was small and had a full head of such light blonde hair, light green eyes staring straight forward. She was being cradled in the arms of a woman who looked like she was in her early forties. The baby was dressed all in white.

"That's me." Julia said finally, as if it wasn't obvious. The voice she used was hardly hers, and Max knew he was about to hear something she'd never told anyone before. "You re at a wedding." He guessed. She nodded slowly, not meeting his gaze. "Whose?" Max saw her bite her tongue, and then open her mouth twice without saying anything. Then she answered.

"My parents'... they were our age." Max could see that Julia was heartbroken admitting this, and he tried to tell her she shouldn't be. "Julia—" Another shuddering breath from her cut him off. "That's my grandma holding me." She told him, pointing to the picture. "To her and to my parents, I was a blessing. To everyone else, I was I mistake. And they say that's why I'm cursed."

Max had always been told that magic was a gift, but there was no way of convincing Julia of that if she didn't want to believe it. As far as mistakes go, he thought she'd only made one.

"You know what?" He said to her. "You can go ahead and call yourself an accident. I can't make you change your mind. But you should know that if you think that, it means you're the greatest accident that ever happened."

Julia's lips formed a small smile. She told him she didn't agree, but not in a way he expected. "Even better than chocolate chip cookies and potato chips?" Max looked right into her eyes and, in response, shook his head.

"No. You're not better. You're the best..."

**{Julia says her last line because chocolate chip cookies and potato chips were made by accident }**

**I'm so glad I got to update! I have so many ideas in my head but it's too much for one chapter. Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! (For the last chapter I only got two reviews) Also, please check out my new crossover "True Heartbreak". I'll update soon! **


	18. A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

Justin had his eyes locked on his trophy shelf. The exact spot where he used to hide Harper's journal. She still hadn't said anything to him about it. He didn't understand why she wouldn't speak to him if she wasn't angry at him, but he figured he deserved it. He knew all her secrets. Maybe she thought there was nothing left to talk about, if that was the case. As much as he hated admitting it, even to himself, he still missed her. Even though she was just in the next room with Alex, who was still working on her painting.

"Is the guy you're having a staring contest with invisible?" Justin turned toward his doorway with a smile on his face. He'd never heard the expressing 'a sound for sore ears', but felt it fitting hearing Harper speak after so long. He could tell that she thought her little joke was stupid, because she shook her head and said: "Uh, I just wanted to tell you Alex is done with her painting."

Without a word, Justin followed Harper to Alex's room, with his hands in his pockets. Alex was standing there in front of her work of art, with a smile on her face. It was a smile Justin had never seen before, nothing devious about it. The smile seemed to say that not only was the painting complete, she was too. "It's all of us." She said in amazement. "Right there in black and white."

"Shades of gray." Justin corrected sadly, too low for anyone to hear. He swallowed his sadness and actually took a look at the painting. With the amount of detail it had, it was like he was looking at a photograph. The setting was right downstairs. The first two people he noticed were his parents. They were standing in the kitchen, looking at each other with this expression of uncertainty. Maybe even fear.

Justin moved his eyes to focus on the sliding glass door. His sister followed his gaze, but Harper seemed stunned by something, and actually rubbed her eyes, to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Justin and Alex spotted Max and Julia, standing in front of the sliding glass door. Max's eyes were locked on Julia, but she was focused dead on the front door. Her eyes, a light gray shade in the painting, had tears in them.

Harper had been staring at the same spot the whole time. The spiral staircase, the third stair up. The two Russo siblings saw what she saw, they saw themselves. Justin in the middle, looking at his parents and brother with confusion. Alex and Harper looked just as confused as he did, but everyone in the painting had two things in common. They all looked sad, and they all looked scared.

* * *

Julia gave a sad sigh, even though Max had just made her smile. It was like something had just crossed her mind. He was about to ask what that was, when he noticed something. A light blinking. Blinking pink and purple, as a result of the tape she put over it, which was colored that way. "What's that?" In answer, Julia pulled her cell phone from her pocket. "My mom. She's been alerting me the whole time we've been talking." They hadn't noticed because her phone was on silent.

Max stated the obvious, out of disbelief. "So she noticed you're gone." "That's not all." Julia replied, feeling herself choke up again. "She knows how I left."

* * *

"Do you see what I see?" Harper asked, as she heard footsteps downstairs. She was looking back and forth between Justin and Alex, almost frantically. "The three of us?" Alex asked. "Well, yeah." Harper answered, stressing her words. "But look closer." Justin was about to, when he noticed that Harper's headband matched her dress, which was covered with a pattern of carnations. "Hey." He said, pointing at it, not really knowing what to say. "Remind you of anything?" Harper asked, sounding annoyed. "Our one-hit-wonder band." Alex answered, laughing. Before Harper could say anything in response, the three of them heard the door open downstairs.

"I don't know what it is, Jerry. I just have this weird feeling. Like something's about to happen." "I wouldn't worry about it…" Jerry's voice trailed off, since he and Theresa were no longer standing near the stairs, having walked into the kitchen. J ustin headed out of Alex's bedroom door to go greet his parents, and Alex followed him.

"No, guys…" Harper said in a small voice, her fear drowning her out. They didn't hear her, and kept walking toward the stairs. She looked around nervously as she heard the sound of their footsteps fading away, and she couldn't find the strength to move. It was either that, or she was just afraid to. The front door opened again. Justin and Alex didn't make it to the bottom of the stairs, frozen in shock. Harper could picture their faces, even though she wasn't there to see them. She might have changed one small detail by staying upstairs, but the scene in front of her wide eyes was virtually the same one unfolding downstairs.

The sound of fast, angry footsteps was the only thing heard until Julia's voice broke the silence.

"I'm sorry!" Justin, Alex, Jerry and Theresa had no idea what Julia was apologizing for. The only one they were expecting an apology from was the one who barged in the door. "I'm sorry too." Ruby told her daughter, as she reached the spot where she was standing, wiping the tears from her eyes. Ruby was whispering, so barely anyone heard her. But Julia wasn't the only who did. "But when it comes to things like this, sorry doesn't cut it. You know what has to happen now." "NO!"

Harper jumped, Justin and Alex gasped, and Jerry and Theresa looked at each other. The five of them were all thinking the same thing: That response, whatever it meant, would've been a lot less surprising if it had come from Julia. But she was shocked too, staring at Max.

"It's not fair!" He said. Julia could tell that his emotions finally caught up with him, and he couldn't help but show them. "She's your own daughter." Ruby looked at Max as if she had no business talking to her like that, but she agreed with him. "How does that sound? He asked her, taking a few steps closer, to making sure she was seeing his. "You're afraid of your own daughter?" Ruby shook her head sadly, realizing he knew everything. "But what else can we do? We've got no other choice." For a second everyone was quieted, and Harper silently made her way downstairs, and stood behind Alex and Justin.

"None of this was Julia's choice." Max answered flatly. Then he spoke louder, to make sure he was heard. His next sentence hit Julia and Ruby right in the heart, but they weren't the only ones who felt that way. "But Julia's a blessing to me too." Ruby was speechless, just like the others, but Max wasn't done talking. "She's one of the greatest things about my life." The others watched his eyes glaze over. "And you can't take her away from me!"

"I don't want to take her away from you!" Ruby replied, raising her voice to match his volume. Even if she meant it, it didn't change anything. Max couldn't stand for that. "What's she done wrong now? What does it matter if I know?" Ruby turned to her daughter when Max asked that. "You know I love you more than anything in the world and I only want what's best for you." Then she turned back to Max. "But I have no way to help her with this. The things she can do… it's crazy." Max was back to using a flat tone. There was only one thing he could think to say in reply. "Stranger things have happened."

Jerry and Theresa were tired of being clueless. "Can someone please tell us what is going on?" Theresa asked. "Too much has been said already." Ruby decided. Julia looked right at her mother. "But Max is my best friend, why wouldn't I tell him? I tell him everything." "But not this." Ruby answered, telling Julia she shouldn't have said it in the first place. "It's too much."

"What if it's not?" Justin was the first to turn around, at the sound of Harper's voice. Both he and Alex walked down the stairs all the way so Harper could say what she wanted, standing in the middle of the room. "It seems like the two of you barely communicate with each other." That earned her another accusing look from Ruby, but her expression soon softened, and she let her speak. Waiting to see what she had to say. "You're keeping so much inside then when it comes out, you'll just end up being mad at yourselves. Whatever this is, whatever's going on, it's scaring you both. So what sense does it make to not be in this together?"

"This one of those problems that never goes away." Ruby admitted, mumbling. "Oh, so I'm a problem?" Julia asked, hurt and angry. "No, the fact that _I can't help you, _that's the problem."

"You did help me, Mom." Ruby looked confused, so Julia explained. "You brought me here." Julia took Max's hand again, making Jerry, Theresa, Justin, Alex and Harper smile brightly. Julia also reached out for her mother's hand, and her smile finally appeared as she took it. It was only then that she finished her sentence, with the thought that was in her heart.

"You brought me home…"

**Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! **


	19. Reasons Why

**I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

The list came without a title, and was slipped under the basement door. It took hours for Harper to notice, hours wasted sitting around doing nothing. Nothing but waiting. She was waiting because she was expected Justin to ask her to hang out again, being that they were back to talking.

But the only invitation Justin gave was that list, which Harper started reading as she went to go find him.

_1. You have a style all your own._  
_2. You have a great sense of humor._  
_3. You always try your best at everything you do._  
_4. You re always fair._  
_5. You re trustworthy._  
_6. You re creative._  
_7. You re smart._

Harper couldn t help but laugh, reading that Justin thought she was smart. Before reading on, she reached his door, and wondered if she should knock on it. If he wanted to see her, he would ve just came downstairs himself. Still, Harper debated what to do, and Justin opened his door before she could make a decision.

He looked at her as if they hadn't seen each other in years. "Really, you think I'm smart?" She asked, almost skeptically. It wasn t exactly a greeting, but Harper had no idea what to say. "Read on." Justin urged. Harper did, but this time when she read she took time to really absorb what he wrote.

_8. You're understanding._

Harper knew that she tried to be understanding, but she wondered what he meant specifically. She wondered, but she couldn t bring herself to ask.

_9. You can keep secrets._

Being that Justin read her journal, she really had no secrets left to keep but his.

_10. You're loving._

Harper paused. She looked up at Justin in confusion. She thought up a question, but only got through one syllable. "Wh-" "Just keep reading." Justin interrupted. "That made her want to argue, but again, she only got out one little sound before Justin cut her off. "But-" This time, he just gave her a look. It was one she'd never seen before, but it almost seemed like he was pleading with her. So, she just continued reading.

_11. You're honest._  
_12. You're a great writer._

That just seemed to mock her, but Harper knew Justin didn't mean it in a mocking way. She went on, a smile forming on her face. It got brighter with each sentence she read.

_13. You're a good friend._  
_14. You're helpful._  
_15. You're a good dancer._

She giggled at that one, thinking the same went for Justin.

_16. You're romantic._

Harper couldn't help but question that one. "How do you know I'm romantic?" Justin actually answered this time. "Well, you know what sounds romantic. I mean, you think my mom and dad's story is beautiful. "That's because it is." Harper replied. "I don't disagree." Justin told her. Then she went back to reading.

_17. You're a cheerleader!_

Harper would have burst out laughing if it wasn't so late at night. She looked up again with smiling eyes, but sounded almost annoyed. "What does it matter that I'm a cheerleader?" Justin shrugged innocently in response, and Harper accepted that, thinking it must just be a guy thing.

_18. You have awesome Halloween costumes (and a cool spooky voice.)_  
_19. You have a great laugh (when you mean it.)_  
_20. You're talented._  
_21. You're headstrong._  
_22. You're expressive._  
_23. You're bold._

"Bold?" Harper echoed, once she was done reading the list. "Yeah." Justin said. "You take the 'L' out of darling and you get... you in a nutshell." She seemed to be happy about him calling her a daring darling. It was nice, and funny, but also confusing. "What's with you and this 'darling' thing, Justin? He gave another innocent shrug, but said: "Maybe that's what I'll call you."

That caught Harper off guard. "That's sweet," She said smiling. "but it s not exactly something you'd call your friend." I know, but that's why I didn't put a title on this list," Justin told her, "and why I tried not to let you ask me any questions." Harper blinked. "I don't get it." Justin turned to the side and leaned against his doorframe, so Harper could stand on the other side, and they could face each other as they talked.

"You didn't have any say when I read you journal because I didn't ask you if I could read it. There was no time for editing. That's why I wrote that list exactly the way I thought it up. Well, almost. I left out the title because I'm not sure what it should be called," Justin's eyes locked on Harper's, in hopes that she would see he was being totally honest with what he said next: "This list is made from my innermost thoughts about you."

This time, Harper didn't smile. She didn't know how to feel, so she just stared back at him. Justin was waiting for her to say something, because he just stayed quiet. When he realized she wasn t going to reply, he spoke again, sounding said. "I read between the lines. When you were little, for some reason, your parents saw me as a perfect match for you. For awhile, you went along with what they said. Somewhere along the line, we all realized how stupid that was. No one can make you feel something you don't.

Harper nodded, because that's exactly what she was thinking. No one could make her feel something she didn't, but she didn t know what it was she was feeling. She was still trying to figure it out. Justin kept on talking. "Looking at you I can tell you don't know how you feel right now." Harper swallowed hard. It wasn't exactly comforting finding out that Justin could see right through her.

"But friends should talk to each other even if they don't know what to say." Harper seemed to understand exactly what he meant before he even finished his thought. "Which explains why you and Alex used to run up the phone bill all the time talking about absolutely nothing."

Harper had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too hard, but she didn't say anything. But Justin had a way of making her speak her mind without using a spell. His eyes regained that familiar sparkle, and there was nothing dull about them. "What were you going to call this list, in your_ innermost thoughts_?" There was nothing mocking about Harper's tone, but Justin felt like his answer would turn into a joke somehow, if he gave it honestly. So when he replied, he made sure to mention something very important, and tried to be as daring as he thought Harper was.

I was going to call it 'Things I Love About You', but as far as your title goes, that's your decision. Harper couldn t help but smile even though she didn't exactly know what Justin was talking about. "My title." She repeated, but not as if it was a question. Harper wasn't confused after some thought, she was impressed by Justin's statement. "What's my title according to you?"

Justin smiled. "Well, you've become one of my best friends, but lately..." At those words, her eyes locked on his, and she didn't know what to expect. Justin's smile grew wider. "I keep thinking of reasons to add to that list and... I'm starting to wish we could be more than just that."

Harper felt like she was somewhere between bursting out laughing and bawling her eyes out. Justin could see that, and wondered if that was a good thing. Every second that went by without her saying anything, he felt like he couldn t breathe. Harper thought about how Justin was right. She was basically told who to like when she was younger, but this was her choice. "See?" She said.

"What?" He asked, sounding nervous, like she was going to shove everything in his face, but she didn't. Something happened, something that had only happened before in his dreams. In reality, they traded places. She took the back of her hand and slowly ran it across his cheek, just once. She heard him gasp, in what she hoped was amazement, and saw him freeze as she spoke. That's the charm I was talking about. You don't need magic to put me under a spell."

Justin blushed. "Does that mean what I think it means?" Harper blushed back. "Yeah. Why not give it a shot?" Justin sighed, and spoke his mind. "It just seems like, right now, everything's so tough." Harper nodded in agreement.

"Nothing worth it is ever easy..." Smiling, Justin reached out for his list. "Can I just add something?" Harper gave the list to him, and he found a pen. Justin wrote another reason as fast as he could, and then showed the list to Harper so she could see what he'd written. When she did, she laughed, but felt herself choking up in happiness. "How do you know that?" "I just do." Justin assured her.

After that, there was nothing left to say. Justin knew that his doorway would forever become a landmark for the both of them, like a piece of history, to forever be know as the spot where Justin Russo and Harper Finkle first kissed. They knew each other's stories, but they took on new meaning when that happened. They were both redefined in that beautiful moment. Time seemed frozen. They would never look at each other the same way again, but they didn't have to. They now had something amazing to hold onto. Love.

And that felt like magic.

_24. You're a good kisser._

"See, told ya..."

**I LOVED writing this chapter! Thanks for reading, please review! **


	20. What Comes Next?

**I'm so happy I finally finished this chapter. Took me at least four hours! I DO NOt OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE**

The next morning didn't come fast enough for Julia. Dreams were clouding her mind and she was hardly listening to what Max was asking her as he paced the lair out of nervousness. Even with the image of a sky with two suns in her head, she still thought he sounded like her mother. Though she was unintentionally tuning him in and out.

"So, you re not gonna move, right?" He asked her for third time. He was still waiting on an answer for the same question, even though it should have been answered the day before. She didn't seem like she was going anywhere, but if Julia was avoiding the question, that meant she didn't want to have to answer. Or she was thinking about crawling through a hallway that had dimensions that made absolutely no sense.

"What?" Julia said, trying to shake herself from her daydream. Max just laughed, realizing she had been completely distracted the whole time he was talking. If that wasn't because she really was going to move after all, then he knew exactly what to say next. "What are you thinking about?"

Julia wished she had an answer for that, but all she had was bits and pieces. Bits and pieces were her whole life. She had no real memories from before coming to New York, most of her life was a blur. Except, of course, when it came to the incidents.

Every time Julia had thoughts like this, she could never tell if they were dreams, or visions. She didn't even know if she had visions. Her powers were strong a times, but as far as she knew, visions were supposed to be vivid. Her dreams were never vivid.

"Nothing, really." She answered finally. "What were you asking me?" Even though she had been quick to change the subject, and that worried Max, he repeated himself for a third time. He figured he had no real reason to be worried. She didn't look worried, even if she was distracted. She was definitely happy, back in her favorite colors. He noticed her long-sleeved purple sweater and pink floral-print dress the second she walked in. "You're not moving, are you?"

_I really hope not._ She thought. Ruby was paraniod over the little things, and Julia's incidents were anything but little. Lately, Ruby was more comfortable, she liked her life in New York. Which was probably because she was comftable with and liked her boyfriend. Julia tried not to dwell on that, and answered: "No, I'm not going anywhere."

"Are you sure?" She gave him a look. "You sound like my mom." _At least you would, if she still sounded like that. "_It's just that, as soon as she found out that you told me about your powers—" "I know." She interrupted. She couldn't help it. She didn't want to have this conversation. It seemed like our whole world was gonna fall apart, but we're not gonna let that happen. I'm here to stay."

Max was glad to hear that, but he didn't know what to say. Except for what he was thinking. "I'm hungry." Julia laughed. "Then let's go to the kitchen."

When they got there, Julia turned to Max and said, "By the way, I have to remember to tell your brother congratulations." Max's face contorted. "For what?" "That." She said, as she pointed to Justin and Harper sitting on the couch, with their arms around each other. "What's up?" They said at the same time, chuckling since they really had a habit of doing that. "What's up?" Max echoed, smiling. While Max raided the fridge, Julia put her hands on her hips. "Yeah. Even after the goth girl, the centaur, the werewolf, that crazy clingy mess who called herself your girlfriend and the vampire, I still think this is the weirdest relationship that you've ever been in." Justin and Harper both shot her looks. "How do you know all that?" Justin asked. Julia pointed behind her. "He tells me everything."

"What you just said was a complement, right?" Harper asked. "Of course it was." Julia assured her, smiling. Then she looked at Justin and mouthed: "Finally!", making him laugh. At that moment, Alex descended the stairs, still in her pajamas of course. At the same time, Max tapped Julia on the shoulder, since he knew she hated when he talked with his mouth full, and handed her a handful of purple grapes. She shrieked in excitement and went to go wash them off before she began gobbling them up.

Alex felt like shrieking for a different reason. Still standing on the bottom step, Alex pointed to her older brother and his girlfriend. "What s this? Seriously, am I still dreaming?" She looked at Julia, who was fully enjoying her grapes. "Please tell me I'm having a nightmare." Julia shook her head happily after she swallowed. "This can't be a nightmare, there's grapes involved."

Justin looked at his sister, and guessed by the look on her face that she could set a new pout record, but he couldn't care. He was too happy. "Come sit." He told her. "We're about to watch _Cash Cab_. Harper recorded it last night." Narrowing her eyes, Alex came down the last step and dragged her feet until she got to the couch and flopped down in between the couple, scoffing in disgust. "Why would she do that?" She asked, sounding annoyed, but still too tired to really do anything about it. Justin shrugged innocently, and looked at his girlfriend. "Why did you do that?" "I thought it was something everyone would want to see." At those words, Julia hurried downstairs, to find Jerry and Theresa.

When Julia, Jerry and Theresa got back upstairs all they could hear was Alex saying "Oh my gosh" as many times as she could manage in a single breath. Justin was suffering from a laugh attack and the three of them saw Max literally jump over the couch to found himself a seat. They joined the others to see what all the excitement was about, even though Julia could guess.

Justin couldn't believe how Harper had just said "Hi, Ben." so casually. That was Alex's turn to laugh. Everyone watched and saw that Harper didn't miss a single question. "You're so smart." Justin told her. "Of course I am. I'm a genius." She joked. The next question they heard barely even made sense to anyone watching. Except for Justin, and Harper, since she answered it no problem. When asked how she knew the answer, all she'd had to say was: "Thank you, Justin." Hearing that, he laughed warmly. "Oh, _gross_." Alex commented, just making him laugh more.

* * *

Julia's dreams were still haunting her, and after awhile she couldn't stand to be around everyone anymore. Especially not Max, because when something was bothering her, he would notice. So, she was standing on the terrace looking down over Waverly Place. She tried to forget about her crazy dreams and just focus on the scenery. So she was so focused that she didn't even her the sliding glass door open and close, and footsteps get closer behind her.

"Are you okay, Julia?" She whirled around, startled. It was Theresa, and she put a hand on her shoulder, looking into her wide light green eyes. "Yeah." She said after some hesitation. "I'm fine." Through the glass, she could see Alex chasing Justin around at top speed with a pillow in her hand, and could only wonder what that was about.

"I just can t believe this is happening. Magic, it's a real headache." She said honestly, making Theresa laugh. "I know all about it." She sighed, but then said: "Sometimes magic is good." Julia was surprised to hear that coming out of her mouth and said: "When?" "Well," Theresa said, not even having to think about it, "I think I've seen magic for myself. The day Max met you. Things changed." "I know." Julia said with a smile. "Do you know he chased me all the way to Central Park just to complement my hair?" "Yes. And I also know that he thought that was the last day he was going to see you." Julia was shocked by that, and shook her head. "That doesn't make much sense. I don t think Max gives himself enough credit for anything. He's so amazing." Theresa laughed warmly in reply. "He could say the same thing about you. I just know that I was lost that day." She told Theresa. "And Max found me."

Theresa nodded. "You found him too, you know. It's like you re his angel." Julia frowned. "I'd hate to correct you Mrs. Russo, but I think I have to." "Why?" She asked. Julia didn t hesitate in answering this time. "You've got it backwards."

"That's so nice." Theresa turned to see the back door open again, and Max leaning one foot on it. His arms were crossed and couldn't keep the smile off his face. Theresa laughed and tousled his hear before heading back inside. Julia walked over and tried to fix it for him, but only made it worse. She whined because of that, and he laughed, walking outside and closing the door behind him.

"Is it your goal," He asked, "just to shock me all the time?" Julia shook her head. "Um, no." She said sweetly and softly. "Not necessarily." They both laughed at that. "When do I get a turn?" He asked her, sounding a bit annoyed that she always seemed to beat her to it. It wasn't like he never thought about doing something totally unexpected. He was always random. Somehow, it just never surprised her.

"Max, it's not up to me." Julia told him. "What do you mean?" She rolled her eyes playfully in response. "You can't ask me how to shock me, you just figure it out by yourself. Otherwise it wouldn t shock me." "Oh, I get it." He said. "Really?" Her own sentence had confused her a bit. "No, not really." He said honestly, making her giggle. "I'm the most random person I know and that didn't make any sense."

"Maybe I'm just babbling today." Julia told Max. "I've been having all these weird dreams lately, and it's really distracting. There's on where I'm standing in an attic at night and I can see what looks like this mob of people outside because there's all this fire, like they're holding up torches. And they're all yelling something, but I can t figure out what it is. Plus, I must be up pretty high because when I'm not really paying attention they all look like ants." Julias answer gave her a thought. Max was barely listening as she went on, but still looking right at her. "Which is weird because when I painted my terrible painting that's what Alex and Harper thought it was. I wonder why Alex never actually told me what it turned out to be. I doubt the dream and the painting are conne—"

Max interrupted Julia, but he didn t have to say anything to do so. She had to hold onto him for balance because the sheer shock nearly knocked her over. It took her a few seconds to realize what was going on, but she didn't hesitate in kissing back. Her pale face turned red from the heat. The wind picked up and blew her platinum blonde hair in every direction as he ran his fingers through it. Even though the kiss was so unexpected that Julia felt like she had lost her senses of sight and hearing in the moment, she thought she could her something coming from the other side of the door. As they broke apart, Max and Julia could tell that it was cheering.

Alex and Harper were jumping up and down. While Theresa rambled Spanglish sentences in excitement and Jerry laughed happily, trying to calm her down, Justin practically tore the sliding glass door open when he ran over to it. "Yeah Julia, _you're_ one to say finally to say finally. How long were we waiting for that?" In response, Julia and Max both threw their heads back and burst out in happy laughter. Then, linked arm in arm, they came back inside, only to be tackled to the couch by an excited Alex. "And we thought nothing could top Harper being on _Cash Cab_!" Soon the Russo family, Harper, and Julia were all in a weird pile, wondering how seven people were able to fit on one couch. Max and Julia were both upside-down, smiling at each other, while the others laughed and chatted happily. Then, Julia drifted off in thought.

She could see Justin, his blue eyes wide but angry, standing in what looked like an alley. His wand was up, and pointed in some girl's face. Her light blue eyes barely blinked, and she tossed her short blonde corkscrew curls to show that she wasn't fazed. "Are you threatening me, Justin?" She asked, getting in his face. "You should be ashamed of yourself." "Me?" He practically spat the word in her face, but she still stood her ground. "After what you did?" When he said that, she got defensive. "You act like _I'm_ the one who did something wrong." She said, pushing up against the wall. She got as close as she could and whispered, "Some best friend you are, you don't know the meaning of the words..."

Max tapped Julia's shoulder, shaking her out of her trance. "Are you okay?" He asked. "You zoned out." Julia took a second to catch her breath, and tried to shake off the thought.

"Yeah, I'm okay. "For now..."

**Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! I'm going to start part two of this story soon, and I think I'll keep it under the same title rather than start a new story. I'm gonna need some help thinking of ideas for the names of Julia's past enemies and boyfriends. Plus the writing is going to take some time. I still need to think of some plot lines, so if you guys have any ideas or things you would like to see, just let me know. Part two will include MASON! , ZEKE! and one of my OC's, who will be Zeke's love interest. **

**Also, I started a new story, I'll probably upload the first chapter today, so if you're a Big Time Rush fan please be sure to check it out, and/or if you know any Big Time Rush fans please let them know! This chapter is dedicated to everyone who ever read this story, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! **


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